The Osprey Finds a Box of Treasures: A Spirit Journey

This story is continued from here.

I traced the metal rod in a curve through the osprey's backbone, and down through the hips, where it went into her left leg, then to the outside of her body. Here it wound several times around her ankle, went back inside into her foot, then out through her second or third toe and into the ground.

I dug here and found a large cement chunk which appeared to have been broken out of, say, an old barn foundation. This chunk was perhaps 14 inches tall and 24 inches long.

On it was written my husband's mother's maiden name, which she had returned to after several divorces. My mother-in-law had been a source of trouble for us for the last seven years, involving us in a Social Services battle for our son, and seeking to influence my husband to divorce me.

I began to feel a heaviness in my heart.

I lifted the cement block out of the ground, and there below it was a wooden box. The cement chunk had been the lid.

In this box were three kinds of things.

1) Cash - 6 or more bundles of cash, 1/2" to 3/4" thick, consisting entirely of $1,000 bills.

2) A Bible - a complete King James Version, red-letter edition, written in all kinds of languages. As I flipped through it, I saw Chinese, and Hindustani, and English, and Portuguese, and Afrikaans, and dozens more.

3) A ripe, fragrant, large orange. This baffled me (and somewhat still does), except that it came with the thought, "She bringeth her food from afar" - written of the wise woman in Proverbs 31.

As I lifted the box from the hole in order to examine its contents more closely, the last crumbles of earth fell away from beneath it, revealing a square opening, seemingly onto nothingness.

To be continued...

I had many thoughts as I looked these items over. Overall, they represented to me contentment and the fulfillment of my many dreams. I knew, most of all, that they represented gifts from God's hand.

I have pondered since whether these things didn't represent choices I could make, but I feel this is wrong. They are gifts my Lord wishes to give.

Cash is something my family has nearly always been short of. I grew up well below the poverty line - but it was okay, as I didn't then know it, and rarely felt it.

Since I have been married, my husband and I have struggled to pay the bills, and have sometimes welcomed local charitable efforts to help us survive. It's not that we haven't tried, but sometimes, "try" doesn't cut it. We work for ourselves, and long illnesses, lack of work, and impossible working conditions (we work primarily outside, in the wind and weather) have all taken their toll. Like I said, sometimes trying just ain't enough. Over the last five years, we've watched many friends - some in the same occupations as us, some not - go down and lose their livelihoods and farms and businesses and, yes, sometimes their families. My husband and I haven't split apart; we're too stubborn. But we find ourselves thinking, If we just had enough cash, things sure would be easier.

And maybe they would. Certainly, there would be less day-to-day stress. But we don't allow ourselves to think that cash will solve everything. This isn't so.

What I do think is that we won't be poor forever. I don't know how long it will be before our lives visibly change in this manner. I'm not totally sure what aspect(s) of our lives will change that will allow us to have more cash flow. But I do know that this isn't the first time the Lord has spoken to me about an increase in income, and I take this picture as a sort of promise from Him. I don't know whether He will fulfill it absolutely, down to the least detail. But I do know He has given me dreams that are far too big for my present cash flow, and am convinced that these dreams are His, too. He doesn't provide lasting dreams without providing means to live them. Day by day, he is helping me work out the details of how to shape these dreams into reality.

Therefore, our income will change for the better. And I am doing what I can to make that happen.

One of the dreams the Lord has given me is that of being able to provide cash and possibly hands-on help to ministries such as Voice of the Martyrs, and Jesus Films.

I would love to see a Bible in the hands of every person on earth. I think nothing could be better than seeing everyone I know in a loving, living, changing relationship with Christ. I would love to see fellow Christians help others to fulfill their physical needs, especially in places where enough food and clean water and warm dwellings have been long-standing problems.

I support Voice of the Martyrs partially because they care for people on all possible levels. They provide food where that is the need; they provide transportation, or money for school children, or opportunities for work training where those things are needed. They provide copies of the Scriptures, and other books and papers to uplift the spirit and provide courage, wherever they go. Mostly, they offer fellowship and hope to those who are hurting.

While I was in college, I had a desire to work in a Romanian orphanage. I thought this was the direction God had told me to walk, and I was in the process of connecting with appropriate ministries and missionary organizations, when I up and got married.

My husband, it turned out, had not the least interest in going to foreign parts to do missionary work, and didn't want me to, either. The first words out of his mouth when I told him my dream were, "Yeah, and get AIDS?" I don't remember being able to formulate a response.

It may be that someday I will go to Romania, and I may work in an orphanage. Or I may adopt a child. Or I may find some other way to help. Only God knows. But I do know that I can pray for those on my heart, and I can share what I have with them.

Lately, that has only amounted to time, prayers, and sometimes food. But it is enough. I am living out my current purpose, being a wife and mother, raising my family as God instructs, and doing what He has set me here to do.

Even from here, I can send forth my prayers, and later, possibly my children (like arrows in the hand of a warrior), and can help the Gospel go forth to all nations.

Cooking has been a passion of mine since a young age. I learned to bake in grade school, and have continued to learn different processes and cooking methods ever since.

I suppose I could be considered a mild "foodie".

So when I saw the orange in the box, I thought of how it would be to pull back that peel and smell the spray of fragrant oils, and bite into that juicy ball. Or, I could section the orange, cut it fine, and serve it to my family mixed with vanilla ice cream and peanut butter drizzled with chocolate syrup. That, too, would be scrumptious.

As you can tell, I don't get the opportunity to eat really good oranges very often. My aunt once expressed a local sentiment when she declared, "The produce looked like roadkill, a-a-gh!" I live in an area where if you want to eat truly fresh food, you must grow it yourself. The only farmer's markets are conducted at church, neighbor-to-neighbor...and they all specialize in zucchini and green beans. Another problem is our harsh winter temperatures. Oranges and such fruits are difficult to grow in -20 F. below conditions. Even a potted dwarf fruit tree would have trouble surviving in my often-very-cold house. Winter is, of course, the time we miss good oranges the most, and hence, we still keep the tradition of placing a half-shriveled ball of imported orange in each Christmas stocking. It is a real treat.

Back to my dream, of which the orange was representative. As soon as I finished drooling, I thought, "She bringeth her food from afar." This was spoken of the Proverbs 31 woman, and was among the list of good things she managed to do. Seeing as she also rose up early and gave her maidens their portions, I pictured her planning menus with them that included things she could only make by maintaining good dealings with the spice merchants. "She bringeth her food from afar" has been one of my favorite Bible verses for the last few years. Like the Proverbs 31 woman apparently did, I crave to provide my family with truly sumptuous, varied meals. For this, I long for unusual spices and herbs, with which to experiment with foreign cuisines, and improve on my old stand-by dishes.

I believe the orange was God's way of saying, "I'm listening to this longing for options and creativity in cooking. I know how to fulfill it. I have a plan."

Again, I don't know that He will give me everything I have conjured on my mental "Things I Would Buy if I Could" list. But I believe He will give me what is necessary to bring up a healthy, loving family, and to provide meals we can truly enjoy. That could include fresh oranges. Or perhaps a warmer house in which to grow them.