Cleared
Unfortunately that property recently changed hands, and the new owners must have realized there are many thousands of dollars worth of timber on it. So they hired loggers to cut down and sell the mature trees. In order to do that, though, they have to knock or cut down all the trees, because the little ones get in the way of the big ones. They started at one end of the property and are slowly making their way to the area directly across from us.
And it's made us so sad.
Total confession here: My sadness is completely selfish. I don't usually get gloomy over logging, but it's happening 12 feet from my mailbox. I will admit that God has chastised me when I see that truck full of logs driving away and I ask, "What did those logs do to deserve death?" and the Spirit whispers, "What do you really care about death? What are you, personally, doing about people dying and going to hell, Leslie?"
(The Spirit always knows just how to jab me in the heart.)
Anyway, part of what the loggers have been clearing backs up to an old dirt road, probably formed 50 years ago when loggers took all the trees out the first time. And this is where the real problem comes in: THAT'S MY ROAD. [Not really; I don't own it in any way. However, I know the people who have rights to it and they let us use it.] It's a two-mile, 10-foot wide dirt road used only by my family, some hunters, and a farmer. We run on it, hike on it, and travel down it to get to the creek. The loggers have been using MY road (again, not MINE) to cut up and haul off trees, and I haven't even been able to run up and down it all winter.
But today, I thought I'd go see what was going on.
I could feel the sadness welling up inside me as I cast my gaze across acres and acres of mess. The trees are either gone or knocked over. What used to be a dirt road surrounded by trees, and therefore protected from summer's heat, is now completely exposed on one side. I grumpily looked up at the sun and felt like it was smirking at me, "Not so tough now, huh? You are MINE now that these trees are gone."
[This is not the first time the sun has heckled me. He and I go way back.]
Anyway, in the midst of my mourning over the wooded property, I actually stopped and just looked around. And here is the thought that hit me:
"I can see so clearly now."
Things that I had passed thousands of times but had never seen were now right there: I saw a beautiful ridge just past the clearing. The sun cast an amazing light onto the trail and it looked so different. It was like running through a path I'd never seen before.
When stuff gets cleared out, we see our surroundings more clearly.
The same thing happened about a year ago when I helped my daughter clean her room. Not just an everyday, "We need to get this up because it's a total wreck" cleaning, but the type of cleaning where you haul out four giant trash bags of stuff and take them to Goodwill. Do you know what she did when we turned around and surveyed the honest-to-goodness cleared-out room?
She held up her hands and DANCED in it.
When stuff gets cleared out, we find room to celebrate.
It takes me back to a job I had years ago. I LOVED THAT JOB, teaching Bible at a small private school. It felt like the role I had been created to do. And though my life was total chaos with two children under age 3 and a business to run and the goal of getting a meal on the table every day, it fulfilled a part of my soul that God had placed there before I knew. But then that school closed, and I kinda felt like I was lost, unidentified, and needed an outlet.
It was about that time that I started this blog. And this became my place to pour out my heart and mind about God and His Word.
When stuff gets cleared out, we find God's plan and purpose.
Maybe you're in a season of things being cleared in your own life:
- Maybe you've finished college and you have no idea what the next step is.
- Maybe you're out of that relationship and you wonder if anyone will ever take that place in your heart.
- Maybe you are slowly losing your friends to moves or lifestyle changes or jobs or marriage, and you wonder what you'll do to replace the companionship you had gotten used to.
- Maybe you're in a spot where you don't even really know who or what to cling to.
In all these situations, may I suggest? Perhaps God is clearing out the trees. He's allowing you to see clearly what has been right beside you but you'd not been able to see because there had been too much clogging your heart and mind.
Perhaps God is giving you room to dance.
Perhaps God is opening your life to show you His plan and purpose. And maybe for the first time you're ready to hear what He has to say.
Don't cry over the clearing. What God clears, He re-plants. You'll find yourself full and busy and surrounded again before you know it. But for now, enjoy what's been cleared. Celebrate the fact that He allowed your vision to change as He cleared out the mess.
Consider God's testimony about Moses: "I speak to him face to face, clearly, and not in riddles! He sees the Lord as He is," (Numbers 12:8).
Seek the face of God in this time of clearing. Lean on your Elizabeth to walk with you and give you the godly advice you're seeing. Take time to dance and look around.
The clearing may be the jumping pad for your next season of life.
I'm here if you need someone to walk with you!
@leslienotebook
myleslienotebook@gmail.com
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