With our Forestry class coming to an end, I wanted to share some takeaway lessons from our class.
One of the big lessons I have learned has to do with Slash.
What is Slash?
Slash is the leftover debris across the landscape after a forest has been harvested for timber.
The Pacific Northwest where I live has a large amount of timber production. Therefore, it is not uncommon to drive past vast tracts of land which have been harvested for timber.
I am very familiar with this type of landscape … hubby and I have driven past this type of landscape often during our journeys down to Mt. Rainier and over on the Olympic Peninsula.
Not once have I ever taken a photo of Slash. I have always been abhorrent of the “devastation” and “destruction” of the land whenever I have driven past it. “They are ruining the beautiful forest by chopping all the trees down!” has always been my thought.
The closest I have ever come to taking a photo of Slash was this past April when hubby and I were up on the farthest, most northwestern corner of our state … at Cape Flattery. The drive out to the lighthouse took us through a tract of Slash. On our way back, I was surprised to see the beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean in the distance … clearly visible now that the forest had been clear-cut.
I took this photo, as we were driving through that section of Slash, of the view of the Pacific out in the distance.
But this does not really let you see what Slash truly looks like.
So I found this image online, to show you what Slash truly looks like.
It looks awful doesn’t it. It looks like devastation. It looks like destruction. It looks as if the beautiful forest has been ruthlessly chopped down! It looks very sad.
I had been expecting our Forestry class to teach us all about managing and caring for a beautiful forest. I was not expecting the class to teach us about timber harvesting.
Really!?! We’re supposed to be taking care of the trees! Not chopping them all down!
Each week hubby and I would drive down to our Forestry class, and on our way, we would pass field after field of farmland which had just recently been harvested. Here you can see the bare farmland, with chopped stubs of cornstalks.
Not once did this view ever make me sad. Not once did I think: “They are ruining the beautiful land by chopping all the corn down!” This is the way farmland is supposed to look when the corn has been harvested. This landscape is very normal after a harvest.
The land was not ruined. The harvest had been gathered. The land was resting and preparing for a new harvest again next season.
At the end of October, I pulled up all the withered vines and plant material in the garden. I piled it in a heap to be tilled back into the soil next Spring. I removed the metal fencing which the beans had climbed up. I pulled up the black weed-block.
Our garden is now a bare piece of ground this winter. But this in no way makes me sad. I do not feel as if the land has been devastated. This is the way the garden is supposed to look after the harvest.
The big lesson I learned in our Forestry class is that the harvest of timber is no different. The harvest of corn provided food for livestock. The harvest of our garden provided food for hubby and me for this winter.
In the same way, the harvest of timber provides shelter and provision to sustain our lives.
I’m right up there with the rest of society when it comes to using printer paper, notebook paper, toilet paper, paper towels, etc. …
My home is constructed of wood. I love my home because it has so many beautiful exposed wooden beams. My dining room table is a slab of wood. My bookshelf is lined with books … all coming from wood products.
Trees had to be chopped down for me to have a home to live in. Trees had to be chopped down for me to have books on my bookshelf, and printer paper to use, and toilet paper, etc. …
How incredibly hypocritical it is for me to be so very abhorrent of Slash after a timber harvest … when I’m right there at the top of the list using all kinds of wood/paper products!
Timber is a crop. Just like corn … and just like vegetables.
And as I learned in our Forestry class, timber is grown responsibly as a crop just as corn is grown responsibly as a crop, and as vegetables are grown responsibly as a crop.
Yes, it takes years for a timber crop to be grown. But it is grown responsibly as a crop nonetheless.
I learned that Slash is very beneficial! Because of the Slash debris leftover on the ground after a timber harvest, the deer do not like to walk through the Slash … therefore the newly planted little tree seedlings are protected from being eaten. The Slash protects the new little tree seedlings from invasive competing plants. The new little tree seedlings are protected by the Slash from frost and harsh weather.
The Slash might look like devastation … but it means a good crop has recently been harvested … and it also means that the new upcoming future harvest has protection.
So lets apply this to life.
The Bible tells us that if we love and follow Jesus Christ, then Jesus gives us the Holy Spirit to produce a harvest of righteousness in our life. The Bible describes this harvest as “fruit.” But for our discussion right now, lets view this harvest as “timber.”
It is the power and the work of the Holy Spirit which produces a “harvest” of love in our life. Love … when we don’t feel like being loving. Love … for people who are hurting or who are in need. Love … for people who make us really really mad! It’s a supernatural Love … a type of Love which we can’t come up with on our own.
It is the power and the work of the Holy Spirit which produces a “harvest” of peace in our life. Peace … when our world is falling apart. Peace … when turmoil and chaos are swirling like a hurricane around us! Peace … which is supernatural and defies all explanation.
It is the power and the work of the Holy Spirit which produces a “harvest” of patience in our life. Patience … when people are being mean to us and taking advantage of us.
It is the power and the work of the Holy Spirit which produces a “harvest” of gentleness in our life. And self-control … when we really really want to give someone a piece of our mind! And faithfulness … when everything in us wants to just give up and walk away!
Some seasons of our life are incredibly difficult! I would have to say the year 2023 has been an incredibly difficult year for hubby and me. This year has also been an incredibly difficult year for our very dear friends up in Alaska! And this year has been incredibly difficult for our very dear friends in Portland who have battled cancer this entire year.
We reach the end of 2023, and our life looks like a vast tract of Slash!
Here you go … I’ll include the photo again. This is what our life feels like here at the end of 2023.
But … what this means, is that a “harvest” has been gathered from our life this year!
God has gathered from our life a “harvest” of Love. God has gathered from our life a “harvest” of patience … when we had no idea how we were going to be able to keep dealing with that particularly difficult situation!
God has gathered from our life a “harvest” of faithfulness … we didn’t quit, even though everything in us wanted to! We hung in there. We kept going.
Does your life feel like a vast tract of Slash?
If it does, this means God has gathered a “harvest” of righteousness from your life!
You might feel devastated … but there are new little seedlings which God has planted among the Slash. There is a future harvest there in the Slash.
You might feel wrecked right now. It’s ok.
The fields of corn need a time of rest after the harvest. Our garden needs a time of rest after the harvest. The timber land of Slash needs a time of rest after the harvest.
So also, when you’ve been through a particularly intense period of “harvest” … so too, you might need a time of rest after the “harvest.”
Don’t despise the Slash. Don’t be abhorrent of the Slash.
The Slash means that God has been doing a mighty work in your life!
