We’ve lived here a year and construction took two. The hardscaping is yet to be finished and I’m frustrated. It’s holding us up from opening The Sanctuary B&B at Mossyrock. It’s hard to live with chaos so long.
During construction all the contractors were spread thin at the height of the building boom. Because Ken is such a genuinely nice guy, it was easy to believe our contractor when he said he would get back to us to finish up the porch and fountain near the entry….that was a year ago. The entry porch is half way finished and a spectacular fountain out of a dynamited boulder sits dry without a concrete basin to catch its cascade. I SO wanted to hear water falling melodiously as we came to the front door by now…
The rebar and drainage pipes for the driveway pad still lay in front of the house in full view of all who come to visit except now they have mat of grass and weeds pinning them to the earth. We have looked at it long enough, but no amount of pleas (to the contractor as well as God), mild outbursts of anger, visualizing it completed, making my affirmation “Lack and delay now crumble away…from an old Florence Shinn metaphysical book– nothing created the desired result or seemingly created any effect at all on this problem. Well, maybe it did. But I can see that it’s not all about me calling the unseen into existence because I understand the power of prayer or of the spoken word. There is a higher power and a larger plan at work.
A little over a year after moving in, we had dear friends visit from Taos, New Mexico. Terry was an optometry colleague of Donn’s, now enjoying an early retirement with Brenda, his witty and beautiful wife. As they crunched in on loose gravel, taking in the rebar and pipe piled in front of the house, they seemed surprised to see we’d lived here a year but were still not finished with our project. In some ways, we’ve lived with this aspect of the project incomplete for so long, we don’t even “see” it anymore. Our focus has turned to the landscape, hoping the hardscape will one day be finished and letting it go at that. In many ways, we just gave up on seeing the concrete laid, the porch fully complete and the fountain bubbling its welcome at the front door…
Our friend’s son, Jamie, lives about an hour away in Oregon, and is a landscape architect. Casually we mentioned having Jamie come by and give us his assessment of landscape and hardscape needs. If we couldn’t make headway with one project, perhaps we could with another aspect of it…there is power in moving forward wherever possible.
When Jamie came one chilly February afternoon with his lovely wife, Wendy and two preschool children, we were soon to realize something monumental.
Delays are gifts.
God needed to set several plans in motion, while from our viewpoint nothing was happening at all. He had to stall Ken long enough on the concrete to get our friends to come by who we hadn’t seen in years. Then He had to give us the mental jog about their son Jamie’s profession in landscape architecture, and have Jamie actually set (and keep- we don’t take a thing for granted now…) a date to come. That is no small amount of choreographing- a brisk dance inside of seeming stillness. Now I see, there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes in the realm of delay.
Jamie unleashed his incredible creativity over the course of several hours as he walked the fifteen acres at The Sanctuary. He saw things we didn’t, creating mysterious beauty out of thin air with his words and descriptions. By the end of the day, we too could envision his plans and were filled with excitement to get started on them.
One of his many brilliant ideas involved the concrete contractor, Ken, who is also extremely creative and a visionary in his own right. It involved him because there was quite a conflict in how space had previously been allocated at Ken’s suggestion and our agreement.
Jamie envisioned a small stone capped wall extending off the front porch with steps leading down into a private courtyard outside the suite on the first floor that we call The Vault. This suite has French doors that open to a stunning view of Lake Mayfield with forest in the foreground and mountains behind. Waking to low lying fog on the lake, or ending the day by watching the sun set behind the mountains that ring the lake is one of the benefits of this part of the house.
In Ken’s original plan we planned to use space outside The Vault as parking. It forms a large circle, large enough to provide a place to turn around. There had been some comments from friends about “having a concrete parking lot right off the front door” which admittedly was a bit of a concern. It didn’t seem to mesh with country property, but we did need the parking.
Jamie “saw” at a glance what none of us did- that a circular driveway could be created in a previously overlooked location further down, off the main driveway, leaving the open area outside of The Vault suite to be a sensuous, private lake view courtyard. With a trellis over the doorway supporting a subtly fragrant flowering climbing clematis, the entry to The Vault will be elevated to an intimate retreat complete with private courtyard - instead of a parking lot…..suddenly with Jamie’s inspiration the space went from boring and mundane to a secret, intimate garden for lovers. All because of a very long, very nerve-wracking delay. We have since reconnected with Ken and he loves Jamie’s plan. He’s even got preliminary work done on bringing it to pass.
Was I peaceful and content during the waiting period? I wish I could say yes. There were a few dear friends, the kind that tell it like it is, that were only too quick to agree that patience is NOT (yet) a virtue of mine. They suggested that this and some other delays we were experiencing were producing patience in me. Was it really patience or just stoic resignation toward the end? I seriously imagined living with gravel the rest of our lives here, and I struggled with anger every time I looked at the rebar mess in the yard when all I craved was order and completion.
Will I handle delay with more grace in the future? I think so. We had asked, right from the beginning of our envisioning, for God to participate with us fully as a partner in the construction. We have found Him far more of a participant than we ever thought He’d be. This situation gave Him the chance to create beauty here as He saw it, plus teach me patience at the same time. A coup for Him! Looking back on all the delays we’ve gone through in the years of construction, each one had a distinct purpose. Usually it had to do with getting other people involved. Either the delay brought someone more qualified to do the job, or gave needed information so the project could be brought to the next level. The delays have always been about achieving excellence. God is particular, precise, opinionated and thorough. If we hadn’t asked His involvement, perhaps the job would have gone along more quickly but we know it wouldn’t have been the great success that is The Sanctuary.
When the private courtyard and other concrete work is finally finished, we will post a picture to share. But I wanted to share
the blessing of delay
and the importance of resting in peace and trust inside the discomfort of seemingly endless dead-end moments. Our delay was of Divine origin, so I really have to let go of any bad feelings toward Ken who seemed to be fully in charge of producing my misery. I wonder if he knows he was part of a lesson that would lead to greater growth in my character, and also greater pleasure for those that will enjoy a cool glass of wine at day’s end while watching the sun set over Lake Mayfield from their private courtyard patio.
We’ve lived here a year and construction took two. The hardscaping is yet to be finished and I’m frustrated. It’s holding us up from opening The Sanctuary B&B at Mossyrock. It’s hard to live with chaos so long.
During construction all the contractors were spread thin at the height of the building boom. Because Ken is such a genuinely nice guy, it was easy to believe our contractor when he said he would get back to us to finish up the porch and fountain near the entry….that was a year ago. The entry porch is half way finished and a spectacular fountain out of a dynamited boulder sits dry without a concrete basin to catch its cascade. I SO wanted to hear water falling melodiously as we came to the front door by now…
The rebar and drainage pipes for the driveway pad still lay in front of the house in full view of all who come to visit except now they have mat of grass and weeds pinning them to the earth. We have looked at it long enough, but no amount of pleas (to the contractor as well as God), mild outbursts of anger, visualizing it completed, making my affirmation “Lack and delay now crumble away…from an old Florence Shinn metaphysical book– nothing created the desired result or seemingly created any effect at all on this problem. Well, maybe it did. But I can see that it’s not all about me calling the unseen into existence because I understand the power of prayer or of the spoken word. There is a higher power and a larger plan at work.
A little over a year after moving in, we had friends visit from Taos, New Mexico. Terry was an optometry colleague of Donn’s, now enjoying an early retirement with Brenda, his wife. As they crunched in on loose gravel, taking in the rebar and pipe piled in front of the house, they seemed surprised to see we’d lived here a year but were still not finished with our project. In some ways, we’ve lived with this aspect of the project incomplete for so long, we don’t even “see” it anymore. Our focus has turned to the landscape, hoping the hardscape will one day be finished and letting it go at that. In many ways, we just gave up on seeing the concrete laid, the porch fully complete and the fountain bubbling its welcome at the front door…
Our friend’s, Jamie, son lives about an hour away in Oregon, and is a landscape architect. Casually we mentioned having Jamie come by and give us his assessment of landscape and hardscape needs. If we couldn’t make headway with one project, perhaps we could with another aspect of it…there is power in moving forward wherever possible.
When Jamie came one chilly February afternoon with his wife, Wendy and two preschool children, we were soon to realize something monumental.
Delays are gifts.
God needed to set several plans in motion, while from our viewpoint nothing was happening at all. He had to stall Ken long enough on the concrete to get our friends to come by who we hadn’t seen in years. Then He had to give us the mental jog about their son Jamie’s profession in landscape architecture, and have Jamie actually set (and keep- we don’t take a thing for granted now…) a date to come. That is no small amount of choreographing- a brisk dance inside of seeming stillness. Now I see, there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes in the realm of delay.
Jamie unleashed his incredible creativity over the course of several hours as he walked the fifteen acres at The Sanctuary. He saw things we didn’t, creating mysterious beauty out of thin air with his words and descriptions. By the end of the day, we too could envision his plans and were filled with excitement to get started on them.
One of his many brilliant ideas involved the concrete contractor, Ken, who is also extremely creative and a visionary in his own right. It involved him because there was quite a conflict in how space had previously been allocated at Ken’s suggestion and our agreement.
Jamie envisioned a small stone capped wall extending off the front porch with steps leading down into a private courtyard outside the suite on the first floor that we call The Vault. This suite has French doors that open to a stunning view of Lake Mayfield with forest in the foreground and mountains behind. Waking to low lying fog on the lake, or ending the day by watching the sun set behind the mountains that ring the lake is one of the benefits of this part of the house.
In Ken’s original plan we planned to use space outside The Vault as parking. It forms a large circle, large enough to provide a place to turn around. There had been some comments from friends about “having a concrete parking lot right off the front door” which admittedly was a bit of a concern. It didn’t seem to mesh with country property, but we did need the parking.
Jamie “saw” at a glance what none of us did- that a circular driveway could be created in a previously overlooked location further down, off the main driveway, leaving the open area outside of The Vault suite to be a sensuous, private lake view courtyard. With a trellis over the doorway supporting a subtly fragrant flowering climbing clematis, the entry to The Vault will be elevated to an intimate retreat complete with private courtyard - instead of a parking lot…..suddenly with Jamie’s inspiration the space went from boring and mundane to a secret, intimate garden for lovers. All because of a very long, very nerve-wracking delay. We have since reconnected with Ken and he loves Jamie’s plan. He’s even got preliminary work done on bringing it to pass.
Was I peaceful and content during the waiting period? I wish I could say yes. There were a few dear friends, the kind that tell it like it is, that were only too quick to agree that patience is NOT (yet) a virtue of mine. They suggested that this and some other delays we were experiencing were producing patience in me. Was it really patience or just stoic resignation toward the end? I seriously imagined living with gravel the rest of our lives here, and I struggled with anger every time I looked at the rebar mess in the yard when all I craved was order and completion.
Will I handle delay with more grace in the future? I think so. We had asked, right from the beginning of our envisioning, for God to participate with us fully as a partner in the construction. We have found Him far more of a participant than we ever thought He’d be. This situation gave Him the chance to create beauty here as He saw it, plus teach me patience at the same time. A coup for Him! Looking back on all the delays we’ve gone through in the years of construction, each one had a distinct purpose. Usually it had to do with getting other people involved. Either the delay brought someone more qualified to do the job, or gave needed information so the project could be brought to the next level. The delays have always been about achieving excellence. God is particular, precise, opinionated and thorough. If we hadn’t asked His involvement, perhaps the job would have gone along more quickly but we know it wouldn’t have been the great success that is The Sanctuary.
When the private courtyard and other concrete work is finally finished, we will post a picture to share. But I wanted to share
the blessing of delay
and the importance of resting in peace and trust inside the discomfort of seemingly endless dead-end moments. Our delay was of Divine origin, so I really have to let go of any bad feelings toward Ken who seemed to be fully in charge of producing my misery. I wonder if he knows he was part of a lesson that would lead to greater growth in my character, and also greater pleasure for those that will enjoy a cool glass of wine at day’s end while watching the sun set over Lake Mayfield from their private courtyard patio.
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