The search for land to build a new home began years ago. It took us to hilly places and rocky places and too costly places. It led us to disappointment when, on the rare occasion we found something we thought would work, we would discover it had "just sold."
One day, on a lead from our agent, my husband turned onto a dusty country road. The property he had come to look at wasn't perfect, but at this point we were willing to settle. However, his call to the agent only resulted in more disappointment. It had "just sold."
He felt so discouraged. As he walked back toward our car, one of the neighbors stopped him. He had seen him looking and wanted him to know the corner property was also for sale. The sign had blown over and gotten lost in the overgrown bushes. As it turned out, no one else had seen the sign. In time, the five acres became ours.
The first time I saw those acres I couldn't imagine building a home there. They were absolutely overgrown with huge cedar trees and cactus and every imaginable kind of weed. It was so thick, we literally couldn't walk through some of it. I began to wonder what my husband had seen in this dense wilderness, but he assured me it would be just exactly what we were looking for. He saw potential. I saw a boatload of work.
It took two men with big machines days and days to clear the land. Over the course of twenty years the pesky cedar had flourished, dwarfing the ancient oaks. The trunks of the younger oak trees were bent and twisted as they fought desperately to find the sun.
Two years have passed. The land hardly resembles the tangled mess we first saw. The oaks are thriving. I especially love the one that grows at an awkward angle. It is a reminder of what was.
It is, for us, an oasis of peace and quiet.
I cannot look at it without thinking of my own life - how it has often become a tangled mess, the failures and faults choking out the good. It isn't much to look at from a human perspective.
But there is One who sees past the surface turmoil clear down into the heart of things. He is willing to do the work to make it all new. Time and time again.
Blessings,
Linda