Up a Stump
I always thought up a stump meant the same as stumped. My friend Patty Cooper Emerson explained a difference in the two.
Stumped means confused or puzzled.
We cut a few trees in our back year. I was stumped about what to do with the stumps. Should I:
- Dig them up
- Burn them
- Leave them alone
With one stump, I let nature take control. Honeysuckle grew near it. I allowed the honeysuckle to keep growing. Now, it covers the stump and blooms all summer. Problem solved.
No longer stumped, I have a pretty stump.
Up a stump means a situation too big to manage.
I cannot solve the problem. I:
- Have no choice
- Must live with it
Patty gave the example of a young man who arrives 30 minutes late to work every day. If he is my sister’s son, I might feel up a stump – like I can do nothing.
What makes me feel up a stump may not make you feel that way.
- You may be comfortable firing your sister’s son.
- I may feel comfortable with a problem you cannot manage.
Nothing leaves God up a stump. Rather than tying myself in knots or becoming a worry wart, I can take all my problems to God. So can you.
“A life devoted to things is a dead life, a stump; a God-shaped life is a flourishing tree” (Proverbs 11:28 MSG).
If you use up a stump and stumped, do you mean the same? Please comment below.
Do you have an expression you want explained or a thought about this one? If so, please comment below.
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