olcarman
Nampa, ID
age: 64
| Idahokaye asked me to post this. It kinda fits us old codgers, huh?
Only years of standing in the weather, bearing the storms and scorching sun, only that can produce beautiful barn wood.
A stranger came by the other day with an offer that set me to thinking.
He wanted to buy the old barn that sits out by the highway.
I told him right off he was crazy.
He was a city type, you could tell by his clothes, his car,
his hands, and the way he talked.
He said he was driving by and saw that beautiful barn
sitting out in the tall grass and wanted to know if it was for sale.
I told him he had a funny idea of beauty.
Sure, it was a handsome building in its day.
But then, there's been a lot of winters pass with their snow and ice and howling wind.
The summer sun's beat down on that old barn till all the paint's gone, and the wood has turned silver gray.
Now the old building leans a good deal, looking kind of tired.
Yet, that fellow called it beautiful.
That set me to thinking.
I walked out to the field and just stood there, gazing at that old barn.
The stranger said he planned to use the lumber to line the walls of his den in a new country home he's building down the road.
He said you couldn't get paint that beautiful.
Only years of standing in the weather, bearing the storms and scorching sun, only that can produce beautiful barn wood.
It came to me then. We're a lot like that, you and I.
Only it's on the inside that the beauty grows with us.
Sure we turn silver gray too... and lean a bit more than
we did when we were young and full of sap.
But the Good Lord knows what He's doing.
And as the years pass He's busy using the hard weather of our lives,
the dry spells and the stormy seasons to do a job of beautifying
our souls that nothing else can produce.
And to think how often folks holler because they want life easy!
They took the old barn down today and hauled it away
to beautify a rich man's house.
And I reckon someday you and I'll be hauled off
to Heaven to take on whatever chores the Good Lord
has for us on the Great Sky Ranch.
And I suspect we'll be more beautiful
then for the seasons we've been through here...
and just maybe even add a bit of beauty to our Father's house.
May there be peace within you today.
May you trust God that you are
exactly where you are meant to be.
And...I do sincerely thank God for my wonderful friends and family who love me
even though I show signs of weathering.
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idangel57
Nampa, ID
age: 60
| That really is a great storey As all of us weather .
May we all have respect and care for one other.
And maybe we all meet in the same beautiful
place someday.Beauty is within and what is in the heart
is most important.Thank you for the post
See you in the mountain somewhere  
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hotheels
Nampa, ID
age: 60
| and I thank God that he put me in the right place at the right time to meet all you wonderful friends.. love you all. maybe someday we will be leaning together, holding each other up
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