Visit to the Country Place

Visit to the Country Place

Welcome to Christianity Oasis. This is Visit to the Country Place from our Sojourn With Luz Leigh Collection. We hope you enjoy this enlightening reading and it helps you on your own be-YOU-tiful Christian walk.

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Sojourn With Luz Leigh

Visit to the Country Place

Written by Luz Leigh - 01 August 2009

We have been waiting for measurable rain for over two months, so Friday when the storm clouds loomed on the horizon, we were jubilant. After lunch a friend and I drove to the country to see how much rain had fallen on his hay field; you see this is what country folks around here do. The sight of rainwater standing in the roadway leading from the main road to the hay field brought excitement to us.

Traveling farther down the little paved road, we came to the iron gate that opens to the driveway that leads to the "old place" as it is called. Approximately one hundred acres nestled in the national forest, backed up to the bayou, now home only to range cattle; no humans live here anymore. We turned on to the driveway; my friend opens the iron gate, and we proceed for what seems like a long way until we come to another iron gate, also closed and locked. There are thick woods on each side of the very narrow road. I offered to get out and open the second gate, something I have done probably hundreds of times in my life, but my friend refused to allow me to do this. I didn't argue.

A few more yards and we are in the open ... trees of various varieties can be seen bordering the pasture where the cattle are kept. Although this was my first visit to this land in decades, I sense the pleasant feeling of being in a familiar setting. For over thirty years I had gone with my husband to a similar place to check on our cattle, often helping him feed them. The memory of those happy days flowed over me and I had to work hard to hold my emotions in check. There was a happiness that is hard to describe and I could feel tears welling up. If I burst out in tears, how could I explain my behavior to this friend? Although we have known each other all my life, we have not been in contact since I was a teen. He married and moved from the community and only recently returned following the death of his wife a few years ago.

Just as we parked the truck under a huge elm tree in what had once been the front yard of his boyhood home, the rain returned. Like two kids on Christmas morning, we shared our happiness in watching those blessed drops hit the windshield. More rain, at last. Our county, along with many others in the state, had been declared a drought area. Many people have been praying for rain to fall before all crops and hay fields were lost due to lack of rain. Ranchers, including my friend, have been selling off cattle for lack of grass and/or water.

Much too soon the rain had stopped to a mere drizzle. Tired of being stuck inside a truck with windows rolled up, we stepped out into the light rain. Laughing about how silly we must look, we walked around the camp house and the barn. Then I spied it. There was this very odd looking sight there on the old home place. At the base of a tall pine tree, a younger elm tree had taken root. Over the years, for some reason, this young tree had begun to wrap itself around the pine tree. It was so close that it almost seemed to be a part of the pine tree. I asked if someone had trained the elm to grow in that manner. "No, it just grew that way," was the reply I received. How I wished for a camera to record this oddity.

As I stood gazing at this twist of nature, I thought of how our lives should be like the elm tree, with the pine representing our Lord. We should, without being forced by anyone or anything, draw our lives so close to our Savior that we would appear a part of Him.

Much needed rain; peaceful surroundings; a companion with whom to share these blessings from the Lord. These are only a portion of the happenings I experienced when I made the visit to the country place. More thoughts from those two days will be shared in the near future.

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