Our Guava Tree

I saw it the first time I came by in September, there was no doubting the trouble, our guava tree needed some serious treatment - entire branches were dead and would have to be cut off, it was an accident waiting to happen.
I delayed, not just because there is a season for cutting down trees but as much because it was THAT Tree: Our Guava Tree.
Every year the children have spent hours in that tree; to chat, to - literally - hang around or worse go out on a limb. That habit has scared me quite a bit, but the broken bones have not come from the guava tree.
And learned to share - the rule was one guava for every child every day; that applied to both children at the school and other visitors. It was both permission - even if the tree was ours strangers were allowed its fruit, and a limit - they, too, were limited to one a day.
The second aim was to teach to preserve our resource; we probably had limited success in doing this. The rule that nobody could pick one, discard it and take another was not easy for the children to follow when there was a better fruit higher up.
It is strange how, as it came down, we were reminded of the many blessings.
The ground is bare were it stood, and it will probably remain like that for a while, but when the rainy season comes around, we are likely to plant another guava tree in the same spot and pray that God will give it good growth - and good guavas.