Old barns and old people

 

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 grey.

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 grey too... And lean a bit more than  
We did when we were young and full of sap.

But Life knows what it is doing
And as the years pass, Life is using the hard weather of our lives,

The dry spells and the stormy seasons to do a job of beautifying  
us in ways 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 a new place to take on whatever a new life will bring!

  


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 new place, new journey, new life. 

  


May there be peace within you today.
May you trust the Great Mystery that you are 
Exactly where you are meant to be. 

  
  

And I do sincerely thank the spirit of all life for my wonderful friends and
family who care about me even though I show signs of weathering! 
Have a GREAT DAY!