Answers from a Suspect Source
The Sanctuary lands are composed of fifteen acres of designated forest land. That means we have taken out an acre for the home site and agree to keep a certain amount of timber per acre, assumedly for harvest at a future date. We really just want to live inside a beautiful woodland forest and at the same time, enjoy territorial views of the neighboring cattle farms, blueberry and tulips fields, and Lake Mayfield and the rivers that flow into the lake, the Tilton and the emerald green Cowlitz. Beyond the lake is a ring of mountains that come to life particularly at sunset. All this visual stimulation is accented by awareness of living in the clouds, in a forest of clouds and boundless sky. The Sanctuary home juts up three stories into this atmosphere. Incredible…Ethereal.
Each year, Donn and I manage the forest by adding hundreds of trees to replace the ones that didn’t survive and just to increase the density of the forest. We don’t use any chemicals, herbicides or pesticides here that would harm the earth and upset the delicate natural balance here. That means spending hours on the brush cutter trying to eradicate invasive canary grass and Himalayan blackberries the old fashioned way; the way that best respects the integrity of this ancient, virgin forest land. Before us, the Cowlitz Indians were the caretakers and they did a monumental job of preserving the soil and overseeing nature. The only footprint they left was the occasional arrowhead we find.
This year, aside from putting in “the new babies” – foot high slips of evergreens, we are researching specimen trees and planting ornamental japanese maples, alpine firs, coastal redwoods and sequoias around the house. Actually, this tree and plant research has become one of Donn’s latest passions and he is taking over this aspect of managing The Sanctuary. He is devouring piles of books and learning technical names for species, their attributes, and companion plants and so on. Apart from his optometry career, when Donn was in high school, he scored quite high on “forest ranger” on a career choice test. So this endeavor is really close to his heart. While our daughter reads voraciously on baby care, expecting her second in June ’08, he reads just as voraciously on his growing family of evergreen varietals.
Buying trees can break the bank however. We needed to find a nursery that would give us a wholesale account, that had fair pricing (they seem to varying wildly) and wasn’t too far away. Every minute counts when managing a property this size. The work is endless, especially foregoing the use of herbicides. We just assumed Portland – an hour off- would hold the contact. We had started inquiring where we might find a wholesale nursery supplier as well as looking on the internet.
It’s been our policy all along to ask God to participate fully in all decision making processes in our day to day running of this estate. As I mentioned in another post, we have noticed He is excessively particular. Some might just say downright “picky”. And usually His picks are different (okay, way better….) from what we had in mind, but those are stories for another time…
After Donn and I spent some morning time reading the Bible together (the “read the Bible in a year plan”) we finished up in prayer like always. I don’t remember whose turn it was but one of us asked God, in the midst of all our other requests and “appreciations”, to give guidance on the wholesale nursery decision as well as other decisions in front of us right now, and provision too. Then we went off to work.
On the way home, I happened to be driving our truck. We were almost home, driving highway 12 with the big logging trucks pushing over the 55 mph speed limit to make their deliveries, and tourists heading up to Mt. Rainer for the weekend or White Pass to ski. Suddenly, a huge brown and white bull headed for the highway from a roadside farm, right into the path of the small truck we were in. He definitely got my attention, and fast. This was going to be ugly.
I honked again and again. Strangely enough, even though bulls aren’t known for their brains as much as other attributes, he slowed his pace and began a wide turn back home. Even deer don’t usually do that much… Despite oncoming traffic, I flipped a U turn narrowly missing the oncoming car, and we headed up the road to alert the owner he was about to lose a bull.
We passed a sign telling us we were entering “Compton’s Nursery”. This was evidently where the bull lived. We had passed this sign millions of times by now but never felt compelled to stop in for some reason. Well, I guess we know why.... it was the lack of professionalism that threw us off. The sign looked about a hundred years old, hand painted…you know. We assumed it had little to offer.
After pulling into the parking area and knocking on the door of Mr. Compton’s humble trailer, he gave his son the task of rounding up the bull and offered us a look around. I got the feeling we were vastly more concerned about the bull than he was…evidently the huge animal had wandered around the nursery before on occasion so this was nothing new. But today he took his travels further, deciding there might be more food across the highway.
There were unmistakable piles of dark brown “evidence” scattered about the grounds and broken branches of rhododendron littering the paths where he had trampled right over them in his escapade. So much damage.... More plants were on their sides in the pathways than standing on the sale pallets. It gave new meaning to “a bull in the china shop” – one of my favorite “tongue in cheek” lines I throw at Donn when his 200 pound, 6’2” frame is moving fast and recklessly - with me as the casualty more often than not. Maybe Donn's not so clumsy after all…This place was a disaster. I’m glad I didn’t have to clean it up…
However, inside the disaster zone, right there in front of us were the most beautiful Alpine Fir and Sequoia trees we had ever seen. Remarkably, still standing despite the rampage that had hit the place. Tall, mature, yet not so big that we couldn’t load and haul them home in the truck. And the price….at wholesale and WAY under what others are charging. Here was our answer from the morning’s request and all because of a bull looking for greener grass on the other side of the proverbial pasture!
We drove the short 5 miles home fully loaded with our precious cargo. More “babies” for The Sanctuary, more like teenagers than babies actually. Over the years, we feel we have expanded our physical family with grandchildren and incoming spouses; and our “other” family with the trees we live with here every day. We admire the way they stand in the hurricane force winds and bend under the weight of snow, unyielding. Some are well over a hundred years old. They are “the ancients” and we hold great respect for them all even down to the aspiring seedling. It is a privilege to care for them…to learn from their silent stories.
Strangely enough that bull had a message for us. He had a mission to accomplish and he got us there to the nursery, just as arranged. When strange, out of the ordinary events happen breaking into the routine course of our days, I have learned to be alert. Go with the flow. Step outside the expected and enter into – in this case – an answer in the making.
These days I don’t believe in accidents or unplanned coincidences. We have lived inside this, and other miracles, too long to deny their existence. In fact, I’d be so bold as to leave out the word “miracle” and just call it a fact of life when you live this way- the way of Partnering.
When we had asked the Creator of the universe to help out with the tree problem He arranged to send a bull to get us hooked up with a good wholesaler. We had, for some reason, ignored the sign prior to the private beastly invitation. This kind of phenomenon is just how it is in the Invisible Kingdom. Everyone, everything is a potential answer. A bug, a bull, a bird, a cloud, a person, a dog, a tree; everything speaks. Everything can be a part of our answer if we have eyes to see, ears to hear.
As for the bull, I’m glad he survived because he’d most likely have taken a person or two out with him. Maybe more. It’s a busy and often dangerous highway even without deer or bulls darting onto it. I’m glad the bull’s timing was so impeccable – down to the split second. I glad I didn’t stop to do those other errands on the way home so I was there right when our answer was coming to us…I’m glad I have quick reflexes and made an instant decision to tell the owners, despite the fact I would never pass a car or truck on Highway 12 (due to the traffic and potential accidents with Mac Trucks….) much less flip a U turn at such close range - glad that turned out too....
Living from the heart a little more, the brain a little less – especially when we’d already asked that morning for not only guidance but protection (not only for ourselves but our whole family) – is an exciting way to live. It leaves room for adventures. In studying some metaphysical literature from the 40’s- old Florence Shinn books like “The Power of the Spoken Word” – based on biblical truths , I have learned to ask out loud, with faith believing, and then to be alert and watch for the good to come our way.
We’ve driven this road for over a decade and this bull episode was truly a first. I really don’t think it will ever happen again because we got the message we were looking for. Personally, I think God got a good chuckle out of the imaginativeness of His creative "outside the box" mode of answer. I’m sure the bull is bragging to all the ladies about his prowess and skill. Us? We are planting trees today, beautiful, big, inexpensive ones.
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