At various times,
we’ve posted about Julie’s vision for The Lavender Pavilion. In particular, we’ve described the very
specific vision God gave her for a prayer garden where women (mostly) can come
to pray, reflect, and experience God’s presence. [see “Pursuing a God-Sized Dream” – July 16,
2010]. This dream was born in 2010 in
Fullerton, California…and it now is being fulfilled, 4 years later, here in
Springfield, Oregon.
It has been a slow
journey – one that continues to test our patience – because we are a long way
from the fulfillment of the dream. We
are learning that God does not care much about time, so we do what we can, when
we can, and we leave the details up to Him.
And yet now – for
the first time – the dream actually is edging into reality.
We finally have
finished clearing the pasture of weeds, brush, blackberries, rotting lumber, cement,
sundry pieces of metal, and other stuff left behind by former residents of this
old farm property over the past 100 years.
We finally are done with the process of simply removing old stuff, and we now have the joy of creating something entirely new.
As a first step, we
built a parking area where visitors to our home will be able to access the prayer
garden.
We rented a
mini-loader (a “walk-behind” Bobcat) to carve out the parking area along our
back lane. We had to make multiple
passes, in multiple directions, in order to get the ground relatively
smooth.
We learned that doing
this kind of work in August is not real smart, because our clay soil is dry and
packed hard. If we do any excavating in
the future, we will do it when the soil is slightly damp and much
softer.
All
of the roads, lanes, and driveways in our semi-rural neighborhood are gravel,
so – after the excavation – we had 20 cubic yards of gravel dumped on
site. Two huge truckloads; the driver
told me the total load weighed 30 tons!
We then shoveled and wheel-barrowed and raked it around to level it. As a final step, we needed to pack it
down. Rather than rent a roller, I just
drove my Jeep back-and-forth over it for about 40 minutes. It worked great!
Parking areas like
this usually are framed with railroad ties, 4x4’s, or 4x8’s, but we wanted to
do something different. We want the
whole garden – even the parking area – to be attractive. We also want to re-purpose various items and
use them in the garden. (For example,
some of the “junk” we discovered in the pasture will find a new home in the
garden).
So – instead of using lumber – we
framed the parking area with limbs from the huge 100-year old cedar tree in our
front yard. The heavy snows of the last
two winters broke off a number of branches, and we also had the tree pruned. As a result, we have limbs galore stored in
our barn!
All of this cedar
will be used in the garden to line the pathways, and we started with the
parking area. The dirt we excavated has
been mounded up behind the cedar logs, and eventually we will plant shrubs on
these mounds. This will add color and
beauty as people arrive, and will help create a visual barrier between the
garden and the parked cars.
The whole parking lot
project took about 13 hours over two days.
Hot, sweaty work in 90-degree temps.
As we watched this
take shape, the vision became real to us for the first time. Yes, it’s just a parking area…but it is far
more than a place to park cars. To us,
this is a tangible sign that now we are creating. We are building. We are moving forward. And we are filled with an incredible sense of
joy. The joy of building something for
God and for God’s people. And we are
filled with an overwhelming sense of gratitude to God for trusting us with this
vision.
And we continue to
move forward.
We’ve measured and
laid out the boundaries for the first walkway through the garden, which will be
lined with cedar limbs and “paved” with bark chips. (Our local supplier has a product called
“walk-on bark” that is ideal for this purpose.
It allows us to create pathways much more quickly and economically than
using stepping-stones, pavers, or cement.
Also, if a pathway ever needs to be relocated, it can be done with
minimal cost and hassle.) This initial walkway
will lead to an area we are calling The Prayer Path; a place of seclusion where
visitors can walk, pray, and hopefully experience the presence of God.
The garden will
include many other features, but The Prayer Path will be at the very heart of
The Lavender Pavilion.
Reaching this point
has involved lots of patience…lots of prayer…and huge amounts of physical
labor. Yet there has been great joy in
tackling this project together, one step at a time. There also is tremendous joy…and soul
satisfaction…in watching God work in us and through us to give birth to His
vision.
- Bruce & Julie
