I used to have a romantic fascination with Ivy… garnered from many books I’ve read, the image of an ivy covered wall filled me with illusions of something far from the truth. After a week living on our glorious property, Ivy, formerly loved, is now reviled as the killer it is. The past two days have been spent uncovering trees and shrubs being strangled to death, with no ability to shoot through new leaves where the ivy has covered, the tree, simply, can no longer survive.

It’s a long process and one that is far from complete. Part of me mourns the loss of the windbreaks we’re ripping into to clear the weed and it’s fellow compatriots. It’s satisfying though to see a plant, formally utterly entangled, able to breathe once more and know that the ones which have sadly died before deliverance can be replanted and the wind break will, in a year or two, be much better than it was. The dense coverage of trees in certain areas can now be walked through and it’s been lovely to do this along side the kids and see them playing amidst the work.

There’s a year worth of sermons in our little property. I can hear the illustrations in my head as I work away. For us though it’s satisfying work and a good reminder of not letting things entangle and strangle our character: Integrity, Fidelity and Humility. I could elaborate on this thought but I’d rather just continue to ponder it as I work along. Mind you, if you’ve got a youth group you want to give an active illustration to, by all means get in contact and bring them out for a working bee!

On another note, we’ve been in our new home one week now (HOOORAY!) but I haven’t posted as I’ve been working full time. I’ve been writing things in my head as I travel to and from work so now that I move to part-time I might catch up and deliver a glut of posts, but I really should get on top of my much-neglected correspondence first!