Buy the Trees

Some dear friends bought a new home with some acreage. They’ve never farmed, never forested, never put up wood for the Winter. Where do they begin? The forest needs thinning, compost bins need building, the house needs work, the garden needs fencing, and on and on. The needs are endless; the options on where to begin are equally endless.

Everything seemed to demand their time and attention, and so, of course, they froze.

Too many choices. Too many needs. Too many dreams.

And then they ordered a few fruit trees. When the fruit trees arrived, the trees basically said, “Look, everything else seems important, but if you don’t get us in the ground, we will die.”

The next right thing to do came into focus: dig some holes. And the thing after that was clear: build a deer-proof fence. And the thing after that was clear too: put the trees in the hole, add good soil, and water.

The same amount of choices, needs, and dreams still existed, but the trees moved them from inaction to action, from confusion to clarity, from paralyzed to empowered.

"What do you do next?” is not always the most helpful question. Sometimes the more helpful question is “What do I know to be true?” And then act on that one truth.

If you know beyond a shadow of doubt that you want fruit trees…then just buy the trees. The rest will come into focus.

What do you know to be true? Do that one thing.

Playing out 100 scenarios in your head, trying to prioritize 500 different tasks, thinking rationally about 1,000 different possibilities, often lead to the same thing: nothing. Inactivity. Paralysis.

Just buy the trees.

H/T to my good friends, the Pattersons, for this lesson.