My work took me to be pastor of 5 churches at one time. We were the Southwest Oklahoma Presbyterian Parish. They were in two different counties. There were 5 people per square mile. The one big town in the area was Lawton but my five congregations were spread out in southwest Oklahoma.
My college major was Biology and my Daddy taught me to be a keen observer. To look at a situation, frame a question, and posit a solution to be tested. A professor of mine, Dr. Robert Shelton, used the ‘Keen observer’ title about me once in describing me. That stands in my mind as probably the most awesome compliment ever for me. All this I say because in traveling across SW Oklahoma over 150,000 miles in the 8 years I was parish pastor there were different things I observed and marked. Like crops growing, a hawk’s nest being built and then young in it, houses in several places, a stream bed that ate away at the sandy bank until the tree roots were 1/2 exposed and they just hung on…
One house I pass on the way to my churches that has been there for some time, and unoccupied. Nobody’s home…nobody is home. It seems that this must be so because almost surrounding the south and east sides are large cedar trees that seem to be holding the house upright. They are tucked in tight to the house. Without the Cedars’ I think it would have fallen long ago. It is supported, protected. I watched it age over the 8 years. Somewhere I have photos across the years but I can’t find them right now.
When I see these houses abandoned houses I wonder about the occupants. Did they move to a better home? Did they leave Oklahoma? Did the Depression send them west or the dustbowl? Did they just move to the next house about 1/2 a mile away? I know there are some folks who could tell me. I suppose part of the mystery is in the ‘not’ knowing. The speculation and the imagination that puts a family there, with a story and relationships. With good times and also hard times in that little house: I imagine sure they did well.
Sometimes I think about this house that the cedars support, being like how we support one another when we get to leaning into the world. When we don’t have the strength to hold ourselves up. When we aren’t protected from the blowing winds or weather. When we feel really alone. Hopefully, we have friends who come when we call. Hopefully – We have family that surround us at times of joy and sadness, success or failure. Families are formed as much by mutual spiritual kinship as by blood. We have the opportunity to be both friend and family to those around us…letting them lean on us when they need to do so… And knowing as well… they Will be present for us.
What do you imagine about the occupants of that farmhouse? What have done in the world since they left there? What were their names? Who were the children? Close your eyes, sit back for a minute and conjure up such an abandoned house. Write your own story.
God abide
Bobbie Giltz McGarey
@2023 Easton, PA
The Spirit Will Tell You 