Creatio ex nihilo

...I am still pondering Easter even though the official day has come and gone. Father Richard Rohr mentioned that " Yahweh is always creating something out of nothing ( creatio ex nihilo) which becomes the bedrock meaning of grace." Grace...how I love this word! Mary and Marshall Cunningham had us for dinner last night and shared a perfect example of this.

Three years ago their son and his friend accidently started a fire on their beautiful Hill Country Property. The fire raged for 11 hours with teams of firefighters with helicopters helping to put the fire out as it made it's way towards their home. It took over a year to clear the debris with help from local students, however, the next Spring they had the most beautiful wildflowers they have ever seen. The flowers were so glorious that photographers came to snap photos of the site. It is natures way ....crucifixions into resurrections!

So all this week Stanley Rabkey and his crew are clearing the brush around OMESA in a pro-active way of protecting our home from the unthinkable...wild fire. I went on a field trip with Mark from Allen and Allen to look at driveway surfaces which we will use to complete the road once construction is complete. This will also create a protection of sorts near the home site. The pool is another protection as it provides a source of water very close to the home and can be used in case of emergency. These are not the things I thought I would be considering as we build this home. However with drought conditions I began thinking about even more protection for years to come. We will use gas logs in both firepits instead of natural wood. This will allow us to use the firepits without the threat of cinders flying from smoldering logs onto nearby native grasses. Both firepits will be in protected areas, one in the courtyard with turf beneath. The other firepit is in the back yard, sunken into a stone patio with a wall seat that will act as a wind barrier.

Sometimes it is not about the way something looks but the way it works....keeping a balance in the decision for function and beauty Creatio ex nihilo....creating something out of nothing...prayfully keeping in mind the lives of my love ones in a balance of love, beauty and protection.