The Groves

Lake Placid.  Why in the world would anyone go to Lake Placid?  Sounds beautiful.  But I still haven’t found this…placid….lake.  As I bounced along in a beat up pickup along a dirty back road I asked myself again why I was here.  And where in world was the Olympic Village?  Where was the arena where the US hockey team smashed the Soviets?  All I saw were rows and rows and rows of orange trees.  Yes, orange trees.  This was Lake Placid FLORIDA not Lake Placid New York.  Big difference. 

Course maybe, just maybe, I could get the Olympic Committee to give this one traffic light town a look see.  Be a little tight but I am sure we could accommodate some of the smaller countries like, say, Belize.

There really is nothing to see or do in Lake Placid Florida unless you are interested in orange groves…..or you have friend that owned orange groves.  And we did.  Lake Placid sits smack dab in the center of the Florida about two hours south of Orlando.  And Tropicana LOVES this little town.

Our friend Dan was careening through the groves in this beat up work truck and Michelle and I hung on as row after row of oranges flew, and often, scraped by as the aisles got tighter.  With pride Dan showed us his groves.  After the third grove I couldn’t tell if we had started over or not.  Everything looked exactly the same.  But not to Dan.  No this was heaven to him.  And to someone with scurvy I would believe. 

Dan knew every grove and practically every tree.  He was out here daily caring for his groves.  Pruning and watering, planting and uprooting.  He would point out a tree that was one type of orange (and looked just like the other trees with a different orange) then point out another tree that was not doing well (that looked just like all the other trees).  He showed ones that did well in blooming and ones that needed to come out.  Tree after tree, aisle after aisle, Dan beamed and spoke of these like they were his children.

He knew them all.  He was here everyday and he watched and cared.  Pruning and tearing down those that did not produce.   Nothing went unnoticed in his grove.

Sound familiar?  You are known.  Known.  Inside and out.  Every tear, every smile is seen by the keeper of this ‘orchard’ we call the world.  Nothing is overlooked and no act goes unseen.  He lovingly walks through the world and prunes those that produce and uproots those that do not. 

Imagine.  He beams as He points you out.  You are unlike any other tree in this orchard.  You are special to Him.   He planted you and watches you with great interest.

You are known.  He sees you.  Don’t ever forget that.  You are not lost friend.  He is walking down your aisle right now.

Brian

Walkin’ the Yard

I was walking my yard the other day and noticed a patch of grass.  Odd.   A patch of grass in my yard.  Go figure.  But this patch of grass, upon closer inspection, was not the kind of grass I was wanting in my yard.   It was close, and if not looked at intently, it could pass.  Some sort of bionic quick growing weedy substitution that was trying to pass itself off in my yard.  In fact, I could almost see it smiling up at me as I stared down as if it was saying:  “nothing odd here sir, keep moving”. 

But it was not what I wanted in my yard.  I work very hard at keeping my grass healthy.  I want purity, not substitution.  I want authentic, not somewhat close.  I am a good steward of what has been given to me and I will settle for nothing less.

Do you realize that satan does not want God’s best for you?  News flash?  Hardly.  But do you realize that satan will plant areas of our lives with substitution grass?  Areas of our lives that look like His best but really are shallow rooted, quick growing weeds.  Places were we have settled for ‘close enough’ or ‘that’ll do’ and not for ‘best’ and ‘authentic’.

How then do we tell?  As busy as I am with my daily life I could not tell if my yard was healthy or not by driving in and out of my driveway after my day.  Looks good from the street.  But I had to get out of my car and walk the yard.  I had to slow down and look, really look, at the condition of my yard.  Takes moments, but those moments saved me greater heartache down the road should I have pretended that all was well and then woke up to realize that I had settled too long and now had nothing but shallow rooted substitution. 

I want His best.  All of it.  So do you.  Get alone with Him, daily, and look at your ‘yard’.  Get quiet, daily, and ask the Master green thumb to inspect as only He can do.

Authentic.  Not substitution.   Real.  Not pretty close.

Brian

Appreciate

Michelle and I leaned on the rusted iron fence surrounding the old grave yard and fell silent.  It is good to be brought to a stop and remember the brevity of life.  And looking, really looking, at the head stones in a grave yard will do this for you.  Here they are, men, women and children whose lives are over.  How short life is.  A breath, and its gone.

We thought of our lives and where we came from and smiled as we remembered years ago when we thought of this or that and how silly our worries were or how much we enjoyed a time or season and didn’t think we truly appreciated it while it was happening.  Then we wondered about today, right now, what might we be doing or involved in that we are not appreciating as we should?  That five years down the road we might look back or think of this moment we were living right now and, with a sigh, say:  ‘wow, that was a time I wish we would’ve appreciated more’.

Is it possible to do this?  To truly appreciate where we are at this moment in our lives?  To find the good in where we are, even if it is a demanding season?  Is it possible? 

I think it is.  In fact, I know it is. To entrust tomorrow to Him and live today.  HEAR today.  SMELL today.  LAUGH today.  GRAB AND HUG today.

Oh God, I don’t want to live in tomorrow.  I want to live in today. Help me appreciate this moment and this season.  There is good here.  There is blessing here; and I will find it.  Praise You Father.

Brian