Make Every Effort

My husband and I recently purchased three acres of mostly wooded property as the site of our future home. We were (and are) excited to be building the house of our dreams; however, the land needed a lot of preparation to be ready for construction.

First, the land had to be cleared. One acre didn’t have many trees, but it was filled with brush as tall as me. We hired a landscaping company to clear it so we could see exactly where the house would eventually sit.

My husband, armed with a chainsaw, was then ready to start taking down the trees where we want to build the house. After that was complete, we moved on to some of the other trees we wanted to take down.

Our property is on a dirt road, and one of the trees we wanted to take down stood at about sixty feet right alongside the road. While not huge in diameter, it was still a mighty tree. My husband began by getting a rope around the trunk above one of the lower branches. I was going to oversee guiding the tree down. Donning my safety glasses and hard hat, I was ready for the mission.

I held the ropes with all the strength in my five-foot-five body while my husband began making the initial cuts on the first side. Then he made cuts on the other side, which would then allow the tree to fall in the direction of the property instead of over the road.

What I thought was guiding turned into more of a sumo wrestling match. I could feel my muscles like I had never felt them before. My arms were shaking. The tree had a disposition toward the road and was resistant to falling in the direction of the property. The more the chainsaw cut, the more the tree gravitated toward landing on the road.

At this point I realized our cutting this tree down was not the smartest decision. Our property is right over the crest of a hill, and we had no idea when a car might be approaching.

At the exact moment I yelled to my husband that I could no longer hold the tree from falling on the road, his chainsaw got stuck in the trunk. He immediately ran to me, and the two of us started pulling with everything we had to get the tree to fall onto the property. After what felt like minutes—but I’m sure was only seconds—the tree finally conceded and fell onto the property.

My daughter, standing a safe distance away, captured the tree falling in slow motion. I watched the video in disbelief. It looked effortless. The excruciating work of us pulling and screaming, because screaming at a tree obviously helps, was not recorded—only the effortless fall of the tree to the ground.

The video made me think about how much of life is often captured as “effortless.” You see an image of a married couple celebrating a milestone anniversary, but you don’t see the years of heartbreak and counseling that got them there. You see a graduate accepting his diploma, but you don’t see the hours he spent studying and the years overcoming a learning disability. Even Kate, England’s Duchess of Cambridge, was recently photographed outside the hospital looking as stunning as usual only seven hours after giving birth to her third child. I’m sure her work in the hospital was not effortless, but the image portrayed that exact message.

Much of life is captured as effortless. Yet I know much more of life that hurts and is hard—and honestly, requires more strength than we think we can muster up—isn’t captured. When we scroll through social media, we mostly see images that look effortless, and we easily get caught up in the notion that our lives should be effortless.

That is a flat-out lie. God never promised us an effortless and easy life. In fact, multiple times in the Bible we’re told to “make every effort.”

Live in peace . . . make every effort.

Confirm your calling and do not stumble . . . make every effort.

Live a holy life . . . make every effort.

Add goodness and knowledge to your faith . . . make every effort.

Enter through the narrow door . . . make every effort.

Be found spotless and blameless . . . make every effort.

Friends, the struggle is real. This life is not easy. This life is not effortless. I look at all those biblical commands, and I want to meet every single one of them. To do so will take a good amount of effort. I will need to make every effort.

Living a life worthy of the calling we’ve received will take effort. Overcoming struggles and hardships will take effort. I don’t know what part of your life feels like a sixty-foot tree right now, but hold on with all your might, and then make every effort to drop it. I have faith that your tree will soon fall.

Heather Gerwing is a homeschooling mom of four. She is a Jersey girl at heart but now lives in Michigan with her husband Jeff and their kids. Heather enjoys reading, coffee-ing, worshipping and writing. She is passionate about her family and living the full life. You can find her at heathergerwing.com.