I imagine it nestled between two dusty hilltops, possibly a stream nearby for nourishment. Utah’s arid climate means this tree may have provided valuable summer shade to a family playing beneath it. But the cruel winter winds would force it to drop its leaves and hibernate each winter. It would have stood roughly a hundred years before this family ushered it into it’s next stage of life.

A craftsman’s privilege is to lengthen the value of such a God-given lifeform. Enduring pests, surviving drought, and adapting to stresses caused by its own weight, it has developed character, figure, and beauty.