I have a master goal list, it has been an ongoing endeavor for 10 years. As I complete something or change my mind I alter the list. On this list are things like publish a book, lay on a beach, finish my never ending renovation and own a greenhouse.
I think of this list as things that encompass my hearts desire. But as I mature or gain wisdom I remove things, grow out of wants or simply decide to omit various goals. But, a greenhouse has never left it’s place in the top five. I have researched them, picked my ideal space and dreamed about the one I love best. Gardening is part of my personal wellness regimen, without the time I spend in my gardens I feel anxious and impatient. Therefore a greenhouse has always been a dream because I could also “garden” in a small way through the winter months.
Well, last week I got one! It’s bigger than I could have afforded and I am overjoyed to finally own a greenhouse. But…
As with anything there is always a lesson to be learned. I’ll step back a bit to fill in some needed details. The greenhouse has been sitting a yard in the neighborhood where I live for several years. I finally gathered the courage to be bold and just ask for it. A friend of the greenhouse “owner” sent an email and asked if I could have it, “since obviously no one was using it, the frame was just sitting in this yard, with no panels in it”. They said yes but that it needed to be moved right away, since the house was being put up for auction right away. We went and got it the next day. Being assembled already presented the first challenge. MOVING an 8′ x 8′ steel greenhouse without a flatbed was going to take some planning. We placed three 14″ x 8′ planks across our small trailer and created a large “flatbed”. We then lashed it all down and drove slowly through the back streets to my house. We only hit a couple of low hanging trees!
Once at my house, we got the ground level and ready for the steel foundation that came with the greenhouse. It never occurred to me that it would be anything but perfect. It wasn’t! It was bent, warped and not level anywhere. That first day it became apparent that I had my work cut out for me. After about 7 hours, we had the greenhouse sitting in place and the brick floor laid with sand spread over the brick to fill in the gaps. I had to take the sand from the sandbox with the promise to my youngest daughter of replacing it ASAP.
At this point I realized that I was missing much of the small parts needed to finish the assembly, including any instructions or even a brand name to look up the maker to order missing parts. I left it and decided to think about the next phase on Day Two. I will admit, I was disappointed to have to devise a new way to make the greenhouse actually function. That night we had the worst wind storm in recent memory. It tore threw parks and neighborhoods, ripping trees from the ground and wreaking havoc on a lot of personal property. I came out in the morning to find the greenhouse moved all the way to my fence and more twisted than ever.
I was so thankful at this point for not having the clips and brackets that I was lamenting only a few hours before, because I would have finished putting it all together on Day One and found it the next day smashed in the street. With the panels and no anchoring it would have been a huge balloon in that windstorm. All the next day I noodled how I could get the panels of polycarbonate to stay in the channels of the frame. I tried many things from weather stripping to double stick tape. Nothing was strong enough. At the end of Day Two I went to the hardware store and bought adhesive caulk with the plan of “gluing” the panels in place.
I worked the next day on washing the panels and getting everything ready. I climbed my ladder with the first ceiling panel in hand only to find that the entire roof and main frame was assembled wrong. It was then that I realized the reason no one had been using it. Whoever put it together had become discouraged with the fact that the panels would not fit etc etc. I was literally bent over my ladder cursing my “good fortune” at receiving a “free” greenhouse. Within seconds of my negative thoughts and realization that I would need to take the entire thing apart and figure it all out without instructions, God asked me “if I was going to be grateful even when things were hard, even when circumstance didn’t work out, even when tribulations were not triumphant?” I quickly adjusted my attitude and replied “YES!” and “I’m Sorry”. He was right I was given a gift, regardless of any difficulty I should be thankful and full of praise!
Within 5 minutes of my willingness to rise to the challenge, the friend who emailed for the greenhouse walked through my gate, very expectantly with everything that was missing! EVERYTHING! WOW, was I amazed and utterly overwhelmed.
God has perfect order, He sees all and knows all. He knew I needed this gift for my wellness, for my general health! But He also knew that I needed a faith building experience to let me know that He is here and with us. My greenhouse was not free but full of rich and costly pearls of wisdom!
