New Life
Jul 28, 2024 | by The Fellowship
After being out of town the last two weeks of May, we came home to find our sweet gum trees shrouded in webworms. Though in past years we have frequently had some webworms show up around that time, 2024 was far worse than any infestation we have ever experienced.
Webworms only attack deciduous trees -- those that lose their leaves in the fall and sprout new ones in the spring. That includes sweet gums with their star-shaped leaves that put on a glorious show in the fall. Brilliant colors like purples, reds and yellows make their leaves a feast for the eyes. We so enjoyed the autumn display of our two sweet gum trees in the back yard that we decided to plant two more in our front yard so everyone in the neighborhood could enjoy the impact of their fall beauty.
Though called worms, the attacking insects look like small caterpillars. They land on a branch and begin spinning encapsulating webs around three or four leaves at a time which they quickly devour. Then they move on to repeat the process over and over again. There was hardly a green leaf left on any of our four trees -- which had nasty brown sacs hanging everywhere and made the trees look like they were enrobed in death.
My first thought was that we would have to get a tree company to spray the trees because they are much larger than my husband and I could tackle. But online research revealed that the only effective poisons will also kill butterflies and bees. No way were we going to risk that! A contractor friend doing some repairs at our house knows the arborist for three pecan groves in this region and called him because webworms also love pecan trees. The arborist consults frequently with experts at Texas A&M University. He said the best thing is to let nature take its course and do nothing, that the trees would put out new leaves in time. “We have never yet lost a tree to webworms,” were his assuring words.
“Lord, please spare our trees,” I prayed.
Because nearly every leaf had been consumed, the small caterpillars began appearing and crawling everywhere – on our house and garage, on the walks and driveway, and even on the underside of the breezeway where they fell off on us. It gave me a new understanding of the horror of a plague of insects. I thought the infestation would never end!
Eventually they were gone, but the horrid brown sacs clung like glue to the trees or occasionally fell to the ground to stick to our shoes. It was rather like living in a graveyard.
But in a few weeks, little green leaves and new gumballs began to pop out on the trees. It was such a welcome sight -- even though the ugly brown sacs still clung to the trees. Watching nature take its course was exhilarating. But would the nasty death pouches ever deteriorate?
God had a plan! Along came Hurricane Beryl with its eye passing right over Katy. The winds got up to 60 mph and did some incredible damage, such as taking down trees and fences, ripping shingles off roofs, and worst of all – taking out the power supply to millions of people. But it also ripped every one of those nasty webs out of our trees. With their new spring green leaves, the trees have been liberated and beautifully proclaim their victory over the invaders!
The two trees in the front are out in the open and the wind blew their death webs far away. But in the fenced back yard, they stayed put on the ground where they were as ugly as they had been on the trees. It was a monumental job to begin raking and sweeping them up. Thankfully, the crew that mows and blows our yard arrived and did a thorough job of removing all that remained on the ground of those wretched webs.
Everything looks so fresh and nice again! Thank You, Lord, for the incredible world You created. We see in the works of Your hands how death gives way to new life. It is such a picture of the salvation You have provided for us. If we believe and give our lives to You, the deadness caused by our sins is eradicated by the new life of Christ shining through us.