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  Flight Paths

A Little Shack in the Woods

8/9/2012

4 Comments

 
Out here in the sticks we are surrounded by hundreds of acres of pine woods planted by the paper companies.  Do not let anyone tell you that we are depleting our forests by using so much paper.  Old growth forests are not used for paper goods; they are used for that pretty furniture you own.  The paper companies regularly plant the trees they eventually send to the mills. 

I always get a start when I pass a wooded section that has been standing for several years, and find that it has been taken down, soon to be replanted with small saplings.  And I have noticed several times that when the trees are removed, a rundown wooden shack sits in the open, formerly hidden by the rows and rows of sixty foot tall pines.  The porch sags, the roof waffles, the windows are paneless, with dangling shutters or none at all.  There are no power lines and no well tanks.  These dilapidated houses may have been empty nearly a hundred years.

I find myself wondering who lived there.  None of these places could be more than twenty by twenty, many smaller, probably with one or two rooms, three at the most.  Kitchens were often on the back porch because of the heat and humidity in this area; families bathed in wash tubs in the kitchen or on the back porch, and outhouses were the plumbing of the day.  Did a young couple raise a family there?  In those days, they often had as many as nine or ten children.  When it rained they all had to play inside! 

And when it rained the roof leaked.  When the winter wind blew, it seeped in between the board or log walls.  And no telling what might crawl in through the cracks in the floor boards—if there was even a floor.  Yet I know happy families lived there, and good citizens grew up from such poverty.  I know some of those elderly people and they talk of those days with a lot of smiles and chuckles.

Yet here I sit, complaining because sometimes on a clear, still day in the country your electricity goes out for no apparent reason, and if the wind blows at all you can count on it.  No electricity means no air conditioning and no well pump.  Whenever a new neighbor moves in between me and the highway, the phone company will inevitably cut my line when they put in the new one.  And I don’t have a thing to wear!  Well, if I lost ten pounds I might.  I wonder if those folks who lived in that shack had enough food to even worry about getting too heavy. 

These little shacks are reminders to me to be grateful for what I have, and not to covet the material blessings of another.  I can be happy anywhere.  I can raise godly children anywhere.  I can make a good marriage anywhere.  I can be a child of God no matter where I live or how.  But no mansion on earth will make me happy if that is all I care about. 

Godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into this world for neither can we carry anything out; but having food and covering we shall with that be content. 1 Tim 6:6-8.

Dene Ward

4 Comments
Annie Warrick link
8/9/2012 12:43:02 am

I grew up in a wooden house built by my grandfathers and father. It was not unlike what you described,maybe a tad larger. As a child I never knew we were poor. I had all I needed two loving parents that taught me the love of God. Plenty of place to play and lots of pets. You brought back many good memories of that time today. I thank you for that.

Reply
Heather link
8/9/2012 03:24:30 am

And many around the world still live in conditions like that. Many that are our brothers and sisters in Christ. We are abundantly blessed indeed.

Reply
Dene
8/12/2012 06:53:10 am

This is why Keith and I are so aggravated with those who want to blame their lack of material wealth for their bad behavior. A lot of great men came from poor backgrounds, including our Lord and several of his apostles.

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melvene Wallace
8/9/2012 10:37:02 am

I Love the way the blog is formatted. The new look is eyecatching, and of course the content is thought provocing, as usual.!
I toast your new site with diet Coke, clink

Reply



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    Dene Ward has taught the Bible for more than  forty years, spoken at women’s retreats and lectureships, and has written both devotional books and class materials. She lives in Lake Butler, Florida, with her husband Keith.


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