The other day while I was at a garden center, I met a very talkative lady. She was so excited because she had just moved into a new home. The previous homeowner had planted hundreds of bulbs and she had beautiful surprises popping up all over her yard. She proceeded to tell me about her lovely secluded back yard. She used words like sanctuary, heaven, and peaceful to describe it. It was very shady, had a creek and attracted many birds and other animals. All the while she is telling me about her sanctuary I am thinking about my own yard. I tried not to envy, but honestly what she was describing is what I long for.
We used to go camping a lot and I loved it. I would get up early in the morning and walk down by the river and sit and listen to the birds. It was so peaceful and quiet with no one else stirring about. I always came back home refreshed and rested. How lovely it would be to have a place like that to go in my own back yard. A tranquil sanctuary- a refuge from the world; a place of solitude and rest-where the pace of the world slows down; a place that is peaceful, quiet, and beautiful.
I don't think that I will ever achieve that here, but I can continue to do things that make it feel a bit more private and enclosed. I can continue to add more greenery and foliage which has a calming and soothing effect. However, right now I must be content with what I have and be a good steward of what God has already blessed me with; and maybe one day we will sale this house and can begin the search for our own personal back yard retreat. As this lady told me, the house can be updated and fixed up, but the yard is most important.
This is a beautiful way to describe a place you can go to...to be your own... to fall into peace both with God and nature. I too love both the beauty God has blessed me to see in abundance all around me.
ReplyDeleteOne day I hope to have a little backyard sanctuary...for now, I personally can't focus on the beauty of the garden in its entirety...but I place my hope for the prospects of beauty from within the seedlings he has given for me to care for now.
I want the garden, the yard, the trees, the sanctuary...and all the trimmings too. For now, I am in the seedling stage...although some are beginning to mature to planting stage. I must admit, I'm a little on the shy side of planting them in the ground and letting them grow independently. I mean, what if they don't make it. What if the aphids come to destroy them, or frost begins to bite, or lack of water begins to dry them out. My mind keeps thinking what if they don't turn out the way that I have planned.
If I hold onto them and keep them where they are they are protected, yet eventually they will die. If I don't let them grow outside of my care I won't have much of a garden now will I. Ha!
I say it doesn't matter how much time it takes, but do I really mean that? Sometimes I get weary in the midst of all the sowing...I know I shouldn't, I mean think of what beautiful plants God has in store. I must admit though sometimes I see the weeds before I see the beautiful flower that is growing up right in front of my eyes.
Hmmm, it is kind of like our whole lives are a garden. Tell me how does one achieve the garden, and keep not only a house but a home? I suppose a lot of love, hard work, faith, trust, and hope. I do hope to achieve that well weeded sanctuary with blossoms of blissfulness while sowing where God would have me to sow. Well, thankfully I can place that in the Lord's hands and trust that He knows the picture better than I do.
Now if I could learn to stop weeding my neighbors garden and get into my own! Ha. Love your blog.
Hopeful