Truth and beauty: how deep do they go?

This gorgeous cottonwood tree lives just a few feet from our house. When we were considering buying the house the trees were one of the main attractions.

But lately we have changed our minds. My husband discovered a spot near the ground where the tree was oozing some unknown substance. An arborist came and drilled a very small hole to check for internal rot, and water has been running out of that hole for a week now. Something is not right inside that tree.

So from one minute to the next we shifted from defending the tree from wanting it to come down soon in a peaceful manner before it came down violently, perhaps on top of our house, in the next thunderstorm. Our reaction is strengthened by the fact that just a month ago another thunderstorm dropped a tree on our son’s house, which is going to have to be completely rebuilt.

Our opinion of the tree changed when we found out what was really going on inside of something that looked so nice on the outside. That happens with people, too. How many heroes have fallen! People like Tiger Woods who were supposedly such good role models for the kiddies. Lance Armstrong, the record-breaking winner of the Tour de France for so many years, the poster person for what a cancer survivor can do, accused of doping. Now we go into the presidential campaign, and whichever candidate you support, all the dirt in his life will be displayed publicly.

We all want to look good. We all put up the best front we can to the public. Our family and friends know some of the stuff we’re covering up inside, but there is junk even they probably don’t know. Would they dump me if they really knew what I was like? When is it safe to open up and be transparent? If I do, will they want to chop me down?

Shame can keep us bottled up, but understanding and forgiveness can be freeing. Knowing that you are loved and worthy of love even if you are not perfect lets you lift up your head and live confidently. It lets you love back. Forgiveness from the heart frees you.

But are there limits? That tree has to come down. It is “bad to the bone” and a danger to the lives and homes of many people. What about people? 

Can you “forgive and forget” the people around you who turn out to be rotten inside? Are there some that just need to be eliminated? How about you and what is going on in you? 

Let’s hear your opinions.