For the first time since it was built in the late 1990’s, our house can be seen from the street. Our home, which backs up to a lake and was, until recently, surrounded by trees and Florida’s wild palmetto and scrub brush in front and on both sides, has had a seclusion invasion.
A new house is being built on the lot next door. All the
trees and brush on the north side of our home have been leveled and we are
adjusting to the fact that very soon, a view of looming walls will be replacing
nature on our northern horizon.
Our quiet acre of paradise has been invaded by backhoes, construction
trucks and crews of workers wielding high decibel power tools and playing loud
music, while attempting to converse over top of all the racket they are making.
Two weeks ago we went outside after a rain and noticed water
runoff, beginning near the side of the newly constructed foundation and flowing
down, through the mulched area that stretches along the edge of our driveway
between the two properties. A tiny rivulet of scooped out earth had formed and
washed some of the bark mulch into our driveway gravel.
We pointed this out to the general contractor who promised
to take care of it right away.
He didn’t.
A few days later after another hard rain, the first stream
was larger and several more had formed. Now mulch and sand was washing down the
driveway all over the cemented section in front of the garage. While I cleaned
it up, the boss man looked it over and said he’d take care of it right away.
He didn’t.
Several evenings ago we had one of the hardest rains I’ve
seen in a while; one of those monsoon varieties with continuous thunder,
lightning and a wide open fire hydrant sky, pouring torrential waters down from
the heavens for well over an hour. It was one of Florida’s crazy, hazy summer
afternoon rain storms.
When we went outside the next morning, an entire section of mulch
and gravel and about one inch of sand that makes up the lower part of our
driveway and its landscaped edge was washed up nearly to the garage door and
under our cars.
It was a mess. And I was upset!
I won’t bore you with the all the details of what happened
next. I will say that as soon as I went
to the shed for a shovel and started digging the trench myself (that had been
repeatedly promised) between our property and the construction site,
reinforcements were quickly called in to help clean up the mess in our
driveway. It took five of us about four hours to shovel, rake, sweep and
pressure wash the driveway back to its original state.
Apparently a fence company has been called and is supposed
to come ASAP to put up a silt barrier. It will be buried eight inches under the
ground along the edge of our property to stop the run-off and erosion into our
driveway. I’m praying they come before it rains again.
I had a light bulb moment for my own heart, when I commented
to Mike yesterday, “We all could have been spared four hours worth of sweaty,
back breaking work in the hot sun if this had been taken care of back at the
onset of the problem.”
Hebrews 12:1 talks about the besetting sins that hinder us
from finishing the course of our life; Song of Solomon 2:15, about the “little
foxes that spoil the vine”; Hebrews 12:15, about the root of bitterness that
left unchecked, grows until it defiles not only me, but many others; James 1:15
lays out the course of sin from a seemingly petty initial desire to conception
and the end result.
It’s impossible to contain a river once it overflows. When I
hand the destructive forces of my life over to God at their beginnings, while
they’re still small, it allows for the eradication of problems that eventually swell
out of control and run loose all over everything and everyone. I need to deal with my stuff before it’s gone
too far.
Inside the human condition, every tiny trickle and tributary
left without God’s blueprinted boundary is potentially a mess in the making; a
river of self destruction that flows farther and wider than we ever intended. Yes,
thank God. He can restore. He can put us back together. He can repair the
breach and clean up our mess, but it’s so much better if we just don’t go there
at all.
May God help me commit every tiny area of my heart to His
work of redemption, so the only thing flowing outward is the living waters of a
life lived in Jesus.
I pray every day what gushes from within me and all over
you, is more and more of Him and whole lot less of me.
John 7:38 (ESV) Whoever believes in
me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living
water.’”
“A little thorn may cause much suffering.
A little cloud may hide the sun. Little foxes spoil the vines; and little sins
do mischief to the tender heart.” ~Charles
Spurgeon~
“Mighty oaks from little acorns grow.” ~14thCentury
Proverb~
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