When we bought our "new to us" house four years ago, we purposefully bought a house in an older, more established neighborhood-one with more room between us and our neighbors than the newer housing developments in our area. Our home is on a corner lot so we only have a next-door neighbor on one side. Between us and that neighbor there is not a neat and tidy fence. There is, for want of a better description, an area I like to call "no man's land." While in the front, back and other side of our yard we've worked hard to remove and prune back the overgrown shrubs the previous owner left behind, neither we nor our next door neighbor are sure of where the property line lies in "no man's land". There's a large tree of unknown species in the front of "no man's land" by the street. There's a HUGE walnut tree at the back of "no man's land" by the back fence. In between there is a wild tangle of assorted overgrown shrubs entwined with wild blackberry vines and aggressive, impossible to kill english ivy. While it wouldn't be hard to look up the plot plans of our two yards and figure who actually owns what, there are two factors that I think are contributing to neither one of us doing so. The first reason is - that wild jungle of overgrowth is it's own free privacy fence. Their puppies never come over into our yard and our grandchildren never venture over into theirs. Those blackberry vines are nature's barbed wire. The second reason is - neither of us wants to face the amount of work it will require to get "no man's land" into shape. Right now we can both use the excuse that we can't pull out bushes or cut down shrubs when we don't know who they belong to.
Last week I noticed that the blackberry vines on our side of "no man's land" were heavy with ripe blackberries. I spent a good hour picking the ripe berries while the summer sun warmed my back. It was rewarding to put some blackberries from our own yard in the freezer for a future berry crisp. A thought popped into my mind as I did so, "handfuls on purpose." (Join me for the rest of this post on Sunday, August 18th at Woman to Woman Ministries, where each Sunday I share a bit of Sunday Soul Food!)
still following,
My middle is very messy right now. Some days, I wish I knew the future, the ending, how long so I can manage the meager, but your post reminds that I also have had many handfuls, and am still receiving, and I know God is helping. Nice reminder that in the middle of the mess there is always thankfulness. Happy Sunday.
ReplyDeleteGod bless you, friend. May God pour out His blessings on you!
DeleteThank you! I followed on to read the rest of your post. I am in a messy time as well, but grateful that you have confirmed that God knows the end of the story. In the meantime, I'll look for some blueberries on my own to pick! :)
ReplyDeleteI'm leaning heavy on God during the unknowns of the messy middle with you!
Delete