Buried Blessings

Since moving to our new home, things have been quite hectic for everyone.  Adjusting to a total life change has effected each member of our little family, but none of us have felt the pressure and burden of fulfilling a new role as much as my husband.  While juggling a full-time job on the side, he has become a new pastor, as well as wearing the hats of daddy and spouse.  All things considered, it's quite easy to understand how our yard has been a bit neglected.

We have two, huge, lovely trees in our front yard, as well as a surrounding wall of trees on each side, and even a few Magnolias in the front.  Our house is pretty well hidden from the main road.  I said all that to say this, our yard was completely full of leaves.  And I don't mean just a scattered layer... no, I mean completely hidden under a thick blanket of leaves.  With the swing set in the back yard where the girls play, and since the entrance we use to our house is in the back under the carport, we've had no need to keep the front yard clear.  And so the leaves had accumulated to massive proportions.

But a couple of days ago, a young man came knocking on our door, rake in hand, eager for a job.  We gladly hired him to rake the front yard, and off he went.  Bless his heart, he had a job to do!  But after about an hour and a half, the blanket of leaves were neatly piled in rows, revealing a patchy, mostly bald yard.  Why on earth have I blogged about my pitiful yard?  Because I noticed something.  (How I love to look at the plain, ordinary happenings of life and see the lessons hidden in them!)  I have a wonderful, full-windowed vantage point sitting at my desk overlooking the front yard, and since it was raked, I have noticed the number of birds that have swooped down to feast on the insects (now homeless vagabonds without their leave-covered world) scurrying about.  And the lesson I have learned is this... many times, life-sustaining blessings can be found buried under the dead things we have let accumulate in our lives.

With a little work, a bit of effort, we can clean up the old, dead "leaves"... and we just might find something hidden under there worth sharing with someone else, something beneficial to others.  So take a look out your front window.  What's laying around your yard?  Does it need some sprucing up (or in my case, a total makeover)?  Dust off the rake.  Clean up the dead things that hide the smothered green life trying to thrive underneath.  In the process, you'll not only improve your face value, you just might find something worthy of sharing with someone else.