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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12 thoughts on “Up a Stump”
I’d never even heard of “up a stump,” Diana. I’ve always said up a tree. I looked that saying up, and it means “in a difficult situation without escape, cornered.” So I guess it’s similar to up a stump.
We both learned something today, Tracy. I can certainly visualize animals or people trapped up a tree. Thank you.
Great article, Diana! Your perfect segue from an idiom to a relevant Biblical statement is inspiring. Also, thanks for the mention. 😊
Thank you for the idea and encouragement, Patty. I had such fun working on this one.
We had a stump in our backyard. A pileated woodpecker took it clear down to the roots. Now, we have a sunken in the place where the stump was. I enjoyed the seamless way you went into the Biblical aspect of turning things over to God.
Interesting, Cecelia. I haven’t seen any woodpeckers recently. Maybe you can send your friend our way for another stump needing work. I have plenty of dirt for a sunken place. Thank you for the story and your encouraging words.
“Up a stump” is new to me. I have been stumped many times.
The number of similar idioms amazes me, Beckham. I have also been stumped many times.
Bumfuzzled brought me to up a stump. I know bumfuzzled, but I’d never heard up a stump. I thought there would be a mention of “up a creek (without a paddle!)”.
We left the tree stumps high in our yard and enjoy watching the birds feast on their “habitat stump”.
I love your habitat stump idea and may have to try it, Ann. We have a few trees that probably need to come down soon. You can find “Up a Creek Without a Paddle” at https://dianaderringer.com/up-a-creek-without-a-paddle/. You’re right that it would have fit well here. Wish I had thought of it at the time.