So if you read this blog, you know one of my favorite songs is "Brave," by Sara Bareilles. (Amazing lyrics, peeps... make sure you listen to or look them up!)

I have brave friends.
I have friends (and family) who have faced down cancer, who are battling autoimmune disorders that knocked them to the curb, who every day stand up to the status quo and say "screw you" and keep on going, living lives that inspire and encourage me (and others) because they are BRAVE.

I, on the other hand, get panicky when I post controversial stuff on Facebook. The backlash from one post promoting wind energy left me quivering under my quilt for days.
NOT brave.

My children are brave. Much braver than me. They say, and do, what they feel is right, whether I agree with them or not. (Yeah, going up against momma, that's a whole different kind of brave!)

I want to be brave.

There are stories I want to tell that will challenge the Christian conservative status quo, as well as agnostics and atheists and unbelievers.
There are things I want to do with my life that don't line up with anything considered "normal."
There are things I want to say that will stir people up, that will make people ask questions, and that will put me in a place of conflict. Did I mention how much I hate conflict?
But if I don't... I will violate my heart, and that, my friends, is not acceptable.

Time to be brave.

We have a Russian olive tree in our yard. Over the past couple of weeks, one of its lopsided, overgrown branches made its stealthy way into the path of the radio/antenna/dish thingy our new Internet service uses.

Don't ya love the irony of the OLD and the NEW here?

 After three phone calls, the company sent out the service technician. He took one look at the the tree and said that was probably our problem. Out I went with a ladder, a handsaw, and a pair of clippers. Several hours, multiple scratches, and one bee sting to the neck later (I now have a swollen, painful lymph node the size of a ping-pong ball), I had removed the Internet-offensive branch as well as a number of others that were dead, suckers that needed to be clipped, or branches hanging too low to mow around the tree. It took a couple of truckloads to haul them all away to the "pit." (My dad said he has a woodchipper, but I think my mention of it being a great way to dispose of a body made him hesitant to let me use it...)

(This is as far as I got. I'm waiting for a taller person, a taller ladder, and a better saw to take care of those last few dead sticks poking out the top.)

As with most difficult chores, this one came with a few valuable lessons that apply to life as well as yard work.

1. Dead things like to tangle around living things and twist and distort their growth.
 Recognize the "dead stuff" in your life and get rid if it, it's distorting your progress!


2. Dead wood is much harder to saw than living wood.
 Dead stuff can be hard to get rid of, after all, it has made a place for itself in your life and thinks it deserves to stay.

3. Just because a branch has three green leaves on its tip does not mean it's beneficial to the tree.
 Sometimes the best thing you can do for yourself is quit clinging to things that are barely alive... let go and move on.

4. Pruning is best done at regular, frequent intervals, not ignored for years and years.
 The longer you wait to purge, or prune, or otherwise perform regular maintenance on your mind, your emotions, your relationships, or your body, the more difficult, expensive and painful the process will be, and you'll look really funny for awhile.

Don't be afraid of the pruning process. It's good for you.
That tree will thank me one day, I'm sure of it.