GIVING UP THE SHED AND WAITING FOR THE NEW
I want to share very briefly about a prophetic experience I had recently. Maybe I should say it’s an experience I’m still working through today. It happened as I was putting my house in order literally, wondering if it was the right time to sell the place and scale down to something more appropriate for a single woman who doesn’t have as much energy or time for landscape care and all the sundry responsibilities of home ownership. This is a story about my shed.
For years and up until about a month ago a shed sat in the far corner of my backyard. It was a large shed, made of pressure treated wood, not cheap particle board. It sat right in the middle of a berm (a small hillock) that runs across the yard as a landscaping feature. Because the shed cut through the berm, there was earth piled about two thirds up the wall height on each side of the building.
The paint on the outside of the shed had been worn and peeling for a few years, and this year I finally decided something had to be done. I believed this nice roomy shed was important to keep, but to keep it I would have to make it look good so it would not take away from the beauty of my property. In fact, I felt pretty sure that the shed added to the value of my home overall, so I really did not want to lose it.
I called in a handyman who gave me an estimate of $1000 to repair the shed by cutting out the pieces of lumber that were covered by the earth and replacing them with fresh wood cut to fit where the rotting parts had been. He told me it would cost even more to replace entire boards, or to replace the entire shed itself. I suspected that it might have been difficult to do the job the handyman described, and he himself said he’d never done anything like that before. But I really wanted to keep the shed so I was willing to try anything.
There was only one problem. The earth around the sides of the shed would have to be removed, and the handyman didn’t have the equipment to remove so much dirt, so we agreed I would have to call in a landscaper to remove the excess dirt and grade the soil so water would drain properly. I called the landscaper, Paul. He came over, looked at the shed and asked me,” Do you really use this shed? What do you have in it?” To be truthful, I had very little in that big shed. The few items that were there could be discarded or stored somewhere else. The landscaper said to me, “You’d be better off getting rid of that shed altogether. It would be cheaper for me to rip it all out and level the ground than to ask me to work around it.”
I listened, but I still did not want to get rid of the shed. Finally, I had to weigh the cost of keeping it against the cost of letting it go altogether. I decided I could afford to remove it and grade the land, but not to pay for the repair plus the added landscape costs. So I gave the landscaper the OK, and then I never gave another thought to keeping my shed. I came home from work one afternoon and it was gone. The few remaining items that were removed from the shed I sorted through, dumped or gave away.
Paul told me that it was a good thing I’d removed that shed. It was rotted all the way through on the bottom and in places we couldn’t even see from the outside.
Paul leveled the corner of my yard and put down grass seed. My job was to water the seed. The first day I was annoyed at having the task so I refused to water the ground. But I realized nothing was going to grow in the hot, dry August weather unless I pulled out the garden hose and put some water on those seeds. So, reluctantly I started to water every morning and every evening. For the first four days I watered, and nothing happened. I began to wonder if the seeds were dead. I didn’t want to take a chance on ruining them in case they were going to germinate though, so I kept watering. I remember one morning standing over the patch of seeds and grumbling to God, “Why am I bothering? These seeds must be dead.”
Then, on the fifth day, I looked at the patch and it looked different. I still couldn’t see any green sprouts, but the seeds looked like they were standing on end. I watered again. When I came home that evening, in the center of the patch, where there was a little depression, I saw a little hint of green that looked almost like a shadow. I gladly watered that patch, but I still thought maybe the surrounding area had only dead seed. However, I was encouraged by the little area of green shadow and kept watering. The center patch became really green and grew wider, but the edges still showed no change.
Then really heavy rains came one night. Overnight, the little progress turned into an explosion of new growth. Even the seed around the edges of the patch came to life. The whole area of seeded ground turned to bright, new grass. It was unmistakably beautiful! The color was vivid, and the blades of new grass were straight and tall in a uniform pattern like little soldiers standing at attention. That first heavy rain was followed by more days of rain, and I didn’t even need to water anymore. That grass took off on its own and became a lush green area that soon became as thick as the rest of my lawn! Just like that.
I knew God was speaking to me through this process. First, He showed me the shed. I'd placed so much value in it. I thought I had to have this little building in the corner of my yard for my home to retain its value. Was that how I was feeling about things in my life, that there was something I was holding on to, waiting for, which I really ought to let go of? I really didn’t need it, I have more value without it. My guess is we all probably have an area like that in our lives. What is your shed?
Then God showed me the grass seeds. I watered while complaining and not even believing for sure if they would ever come to life. If I hadn’t seen those seeds standing on end I might have given up. It took days of watering with no proof, which was a very tedious task. I spent so much time and effort without seeing results that I myself was surprised when the little shoots came out. The challenge to me was about those areas where I was on the verge of giving up. I had started thinking maybe ministry isn’t for me after all, for I surely can’t see how I’ll get THERE from here. But this was an encouragement to me. We have to look closely for the little seeds standing on end right under our very noses. My brothers and sisters I share this encouragement with you. Let’s look again.
The people of Israel complained to Moses and Aaron at Meribah. Numbers 20: 1-13. They wanted to know why God had brought them to a dry place to die. Moses and Aaron bought into the same complaints, but they did decide to go to God. When these weak and doubting children approached their Heavenly Father, He didn’t turn them away. He told them what to do, to strike the Rock and draw the Water that would gush out for the people to drink. But God was not pleased because the people turned away from Him and into unbelief. They preferred to spend time striving against Him in the desert place, Meribah. Deut. 33:8. The result for the leaders, Moses and Aaron was that they were disqualified from leading Israel over into the Promised Land, because they themselves had lost faith and had not sanctified (to keep pure, prepare or dedicate) the Lord in the hearts of the people. Numbers 20:12. This vignette, as described to us, was a pattern for how the people had and would continue to behave – over and over again. It’s how we ourselves are prone to behave – over and over again.
The job for me is to believe God when there is NOTHING to support that belief. I’ve got to keep watering my own spirit with the word of God, and to hang onto that until my seeds of promise begin to stand up. And God expects those with the gift of faith to lead in faith. Even more, we who have the hope of the promise of God must continue in faith. This experience was a prophetic message from God to me, and I’m still dealing with it, but I thought to share it with you too.
Deanna
September 15, 2008