I took this picture more than 10 years ago because the view of this tree standing so tall, a tree that had obviously been there for a very long time, must have a lot to tell us, if only trees could talk. It literally towers over George Washington’s home at Mount Vernon. It struck me, as I looked at it, that we can learn something about life from this view.  Consider Mount Vernon, the home of the “Father of our Country” and the place that our first President always wanted to return to…

Washington stunned the world when, after leading the Continental Army to victory and independence, he resigned from the Army and returned home as a private citizen.  The great leaders of Europe could not believe that he would return home when he could have been crowned king.  Later, he would shock them again when, after serving two terms as America’s first president, he declined reelection and retired to his beloved home. He was the greatest man of his age, and yet did not really seek power that most men would have grabbed and held onto fiercely.

It would seem from Washington’s writings that someone was towering above his life, someone greater than Washington himself.

There are great men and women of every age.  Some of them are good and wise as Washington was.  Some are great, but not so good or wise.  some only think they are great, but are vain and foolish.  In all things that men do, God towers above us, He rules over all things, even when there is a man foolish enough to think that he controls all things; God makes such men look like the fools they are!

Who towers above us and our deeds?  God does.  Will we give Him His due and follow His ways, or will we take our own paths, and like so many fools who have gone before, come to ruin?

As for me, I will choose to follow our Lord, and let others say what they will.

Sadly, this proud old tree was removed a few years later. I’m sure that must be instructive somehow, but that is for another day.