A couple of months ago three wasps plotted together and stung me; I discovered a wasps’ nest at the end of our garden. I worked round it…
A couple of weeks ago I phoned a local pest control company. (They dealt with the rats that visited our garden last year.) ‘How much is it to get rid of a wasps’ nest?’ ‘£65 +VAT!’
I contacted a friendly man who lives round the corner. We now have a wasps’-nest-free garden… I paid our friendly man a lot less.
There’s a horse-chestnut tree in our front garden. It’s a lovely tree – we’ve enjoyed it for many years. The trouble is, its closeness to our house means that it blocks light from our front windows, and its roots may be damaging the house’s foundations.
Should we get rid of it? Or should we live with it?
In recent months I’ve put on a few extra pounds; I can find excuses or reasons – the nurse said it’s my metabolism… Whatever! I still have to choose: Do I get rid of them or live with them?
I was talking to my friend Ray. He was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes many years ago. He can’t get rid of it. He’s had to learn to live with it.
Yesterday my friend Derek told me that his son and daughter-in-law are going through a bad patch; their marriage isn’t good. Should they get rid of their marriage and divorce? Should they live with it and stay in a pain-full marriage?
There is a third alternative – that, perhaps with help, they change their relationship into something better…
My Christian faith tells me that there are times when the bad must be got rid of; it also talks about difficulties, ‘thorns in the flesh’, being lived with; it certainly talks about people and relationships being transformed into something new.
Today I’m praying for the wisdom to know which is which, and to ‘get rid’, ‘live with’ or ‘change into’ as appropriate.
malcolmsmusings.org 
Good post, Malcolm. It doesn’t answer my questions, but it does focus me upon some good things to ask myself and a good way to ask. By the way, you’ll likely long be gone before your beautiful tree’s roots damage the foundation of your lovely house. https://youtu.be/CWjjOJXQlVY?si=QhyGEb3M9qOhJ70E
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I think for many of the tough questions we have to find our own answers – by asking the right questions and answering them honestly.
And thanks for the Cat Stevens song. I haven’t met that one before!
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It’s always been one of my favorites. https://lousyhaiku.blog/2023/10/04/lousy-haiku-331/
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Good luck making wise decisions, Malcom!
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Thanks Nancy. It seems like a responsibility we all face!
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Well stated, as usual, Malcolm. We always have options: good, not so good, and in between. You write like a teacher; there’s always an action to take, or a question to probe. But don’t tell me. I like mysteries.🙂
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Thanks, David. I’m not sure if ‘writing like a teacher’ is good or not… I’ve certainly suffered in my past from ‘sermons’, written and spoken, from those who tell me what they think, then tell me what they think I think, then tell me what they think I think is wrong, then tell me what I ought to think, then leave…
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It was meant as a compliment, Malcolm. Your posts ask me to think, not tell me what to think. Perhaps, because I am a teacher I see it in others?
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I appreciate your kindness, David. Thank you.
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