When Someone Else Has the Answer You Need
A clogged pond, unhelpful solutions, and an absurdly simple fix that a neighbor already had.
Some years ago friend Gilbert told me this story, about a large pond that holds water to irrigate their fields.
The first year it was pristine and crystal clear. The second year, tadpoles showed up. And the third year, moss stopped up the feeder line almost immediately.
Their son put on his wetsuit, and went to clear off the screen.
It clogged again.
At one point, Gilbert didn’t sleep for 24 hours, trying to make sure that the line would direct water where it needed to go.
He contacted one of the other farms in the area. “How did you solve this?”
“We had eight guys with shovels for a week and cleared out our pond. It’s a horrible job, shoveling out sediment and moss.”
Not to mention: extremely expensive.
He contacted dairy farmers: how do you deal with this?
“You can hire a company to come and create a sort of smoothie with what you have, so the moss gets chopped up finely enough and can go through.”
So they did that … but that wasn’t really a long-term solution. More like a desperation solution.
Gilbert mentioned this to another local.
“Oh! You need a bale of barley straw! You can’t put it loose in the pond, because it would break apart and clog your filters. But if you put it in something like an onion bag, like a giant tea bag, it will steep out some naturally occurring chemicals that are moss growth inhibitors.”
Such a simple solution!
And it gets even better. The man said, “I located eighteen bales of organic barley straw for you, because I thought you might need it.”
The Lord has solutions for us!
But sometimes we only find them in community.
He hides the puzzle pieces that we need in other people.
Thank you Jesus for how you knit us together. For all who are looking for the next piece of the puzzle, please bring reveal them. Thank you that you always have a solution. Amen.
Let us bless God,
Amy Joy
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