In the TreeHouse

Always when looking for a sanctuary to call your own, you must consider all things and all people around you.  Thinking about all the outside influences in my life, I see that it comes down to very little...what makes me take a deep breath in and let it out slowly leaving me with nothing but a relaxed smile on my face? 

After over two long years of re-evaluating my own life and examining and re-examining things, it's funny how it comes down to grace.  I never knew what grace looked like 'till I allowed it into my life.  I suppose that grace can look different to different people; the word's definition takes on different meanings considering who's giving it.  For me, grace looks like peace and forgiveness.  There are so many people out there that would just love to keep my past in my present and keep their thumb over me as if to imply that they're so superior and better, that their mistakes have been evident, but none so significant as mine, but retreating to my sanctuary, I found the treehouse to be my place of refuge, my safe-place, my calm.  Even in the middle of the storm, the ride seemed quiet and less bothersome.  


God brings people in your life to lighten the load, to ease the burden, to show you a different perspective, to share with you a corny joke so you can have the laugh you haven't had in so so long.  Our complexities and differentials bring us together and weave us into something so truly unique that, in the end, you wonder if these "turbulent" days weren't supposed to be.  Of course not, but it's so good to know that even through my own stupidity, God can move in my life and rescue what would be a crapped out life and turn it into something I never would have expected...something wonderful despite myself.  

So back to the treehouse...I discovered this accidental sanctuary of greenery, trees everywhere, gravel road and so quiet, this wouldn't be something I would have never picked for me, by way of a good friend.  Never thinking in a million years that this would be where I would find my rest and security, I drove over a hill and found the grass really IS greener on the other side.  Full of trees, butterflies in flight, woodpeckers knocking on nearby trees, goats in the pastures, cows mooing nearby, and horses galore, this is where I landed...me, a Puerto Rican woman from Manhattan, New York City, looking to recover from my own mistakes and trying to fix things in my own strength.  This is where God brought me to let go of it all and let Him fix me...not my life, not people around me, not anything else but fix ME...everything else would be fixed by means of what I call the "trickle effect."  If God changes me, then everything else around me has no choice but to change too.  So here I am sitting here day in and day out.  When the lights were out, there was nothing but darkness and silence.  It was just me in the treehouse sitting alone with nobody but God and my puppy to discuss things with.  Every once and a while, the people in the main house would stop by and talk, but this was my time to silently figure things out as God unwrapped, slowly and deliberately all the things He wanted to bring to light in my life.  Casting a reflective image in front my face, God gently showed me so many things I didn't want to see, but one by one, and in His love and timing, healing took place.  Completely isolated from so many things and people that would distract and hinder my thought process, God chose to literally plop me in the middle of nowhere where I could do nothing but think on Him and let Him love me back on the path meant just for me.  The process is long, actually, the process is continual.  It is, in reality, like peeling off layers and layers of dead skin.  


Now in the comfort of a secluded sanctuary, I find peace and grace all around me.  So much has changed within and without me, yet in the middle of a chaotic time in my life, the peaceful streams in my heart continue to flow.  The treehouse is my welcome place.  Now I go home and sit outside underneath a big tree branch and listen to the neighborhood farm animals in the distance while sipping on a nice hot cup of coffee or a tall glass of iced-java.  


Weekend adventures take me to enjoying neighboring sights and activities like eating crabs, finding the water and enjoying the pier, taking pictures of cows and a calf, and all that treehouse living entails.  If you look carefully, you'll see worker bees in the background, birds with massive wing spans flying overhead, a big dog frolicking in the yard, a small little puppy curled in a ball sleeping on my lap and all is well in my heart and soul and so it is and shall be...it truly is well.