The Main Building, Original Property
Following my last post in which I shared the news that our beloved cottage is on the market, there have been questions and messages and encouragements, and for that I am so grateful. Your kind engagement and care means a lot.
Today I want to pick this up again. And to begin, I need to repeat that we do not in any want to, nor do we have to, leave the area. That's because what's for sale is only a portion of what Ken and I have come into possession of through a mixture of inheritance and previous buyouts as the generational story of our family's time on these waters has unfolded. [Two properties that used to be one, severed in or around 1947, side by side. The cottage we partially own and where we stay is the severed piece. The other side which we fully own we'll call the original property.]
In the picture above you can see how much waterfront I'm talking about. From the line you might draw at the tip of my kayak to the place where the shoreline curls back into the channel, that's pretty much all ours! And, in my confession of greed, I would really rather keep it that way.
There's something about this place that I can never get enough of. For a lot of reasons.
We not only feel somehow intricated into the rocks and water and trees here, but there are also dear family members and friends who occupy other summer homes in the community called Cognashene. And there is also the Church on the Rock, aka Cognashene Community Church, and the truly lovely people of faith who gather there every Sunday, weather permitting, throughout July and August. We would be devasted if this sale meant we would be separated from all of that entirely. The water, the kayak, the still mornings, the sunsets, the people. The silence.
Calm waters at sunrise
The place we currently reside in is the severed piece, and that is what's up for sale. It's where Ken and I have been able to come for rest and restoration for the past 48 years of our married lives, where our children, and now our grandchildren have come to make a lifetime of memories.
The Bunkie, Original Property
On the other side, the original property, you should know, is a brand new two-bedroom bunkie with a three-piece bathroom, a sturdy 1940's two-room sleeping cabin with no plumbing, and another main building that could most kindly be described as derelict-but-substantially-cleaned-out-with-dubious-but-still-hopeful-possibilities.
Working Woodstove, Main Building, Original Property
It a decent amount of square footage, but with many other realities. The kitchen is basically non-functional. Wood stove still works, which was quite a surprise. Foundation is questionable. Roof is not snow-load-worthy, hence the supports. Critters have figured out all the entrances between all the bits that are sagging. There's one back room (not pictured, you're welcome) that may or may not have been called the "Squirrel Condo."
The "Kitchen" in the Main Building
There is no way our whole family could come up and be comfortable here. Ken and I on our own wouldn't have a fully functioning kitchen even, and no place to be just to read or play Scrabble or relax. It's not properly a 'cottage'. Not yet at least.
This is the original family cottage, the first part of it built in 1919, with all the additions and out buildings added over the years. We have been in full possession of this side of things for about ten years now, clearing out and tearing down and building and dreaming, while we sleep and eat next door where it's all inhabitable and comfy. What's new on this side is the bunkie, and also the boathouse, both replacing buildings that only needed a bit of nudging before being torn down completely. It's been a lot of work. And there's a lot of work to be done.
Here's another piece of the greed thing. Sometimes when I'm over here I can get overwhelmed, not just with what still needs to be tended to, but also with the sheer ownership of it. Midst all the neglect-and-critter-ruined items, there's the really good stuff; antique furniture, dishes, small appliances, bedding and towels, a shopvac, tarps, hardware, and enough plastic food containers to last me until Jesus comes back.
Plain truth? We've already cleared and donated so many bags of items from both properties. Yet, even after cleaning out our city home on Blythwood two years ago, and all the letting go and purging we did then, we still have so much stuff! To emphasize it, I'll say it again like this. So. Much. Stuff!!!!
And this is where the Spirit takes me, gently pulling back the curtain to look at the whole picture. Do you see it? Ken and I already own a home in the city. Currently we have two properties on Georgian Bay with generous waterfront and full of the comforts of life, more actually than we know what to do with.
And so there is the struggle. Caught somewhere between the grief of what we'll lose, and the greed of even calling that a loss in light of all I do have.
Greed (Miriam Webster)
"A selfish and excessive desire for more of something
(such as money) than is needed."
It's important to say here that none of this, as I sit quietly with the meditations, comes to me as harsh or condemning. I find that the corrective discipline God brings to my attention is nothing whatsoever like any discipline I've ever experienced from any human source. There is something truly holy about being held in such a space with overwhelming unconditional love.
And so, I sit safely with the intensity of my longings. To feel them. To separate out the grief from the greed. Because both are there. One is valid. One is not. One acknowledges the loss. One clutches for lost things. One needs to be integrated into who I am becoming. One needs to be confronted and depowered.
Do I have an antidote for greed? Over this past year I have been experimenting with the formula. Here's what I've come up with so far.
One part generosity. One part contentment. One part eternity-mindedness. Two parts gratitude.
The generosity part is probably quite obvious. Making sure you are open handed for the sake of others is in direct defiance of any greed that wants to determine what happens with resources.
One person gives freely, yet gains even more;
another withholds unduly, comes to poverty.
A generous person will prosper;
whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.
Proverbs 11:24-25
The contentment is also probably obvious. Knowing when enough is enough just dials it all down to a more peaceful level.
Godliness with contentment is great gain.
1 Timothy 6:6
The eternity-mindedness part is about beginning with the end in mind (a Steven Covey mantra), and imagining what how you want to be remembered. What will how you lived say about who you are?
I consider my life worth nothing to me,
my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task
the Lord Jesus has given me.
Acts 20:24
And then there's gratitude. Of course there's gratitude. And by that I don't just mean the feeling of it, although that will indeed be the by product. I mean first the practice of it. The regular, maybe even every day, listing of every blessing of my life and just simply saying, "Thank You."
Bless the LORD, O my soul
and forget not all His benefits.
Psalm 103:5
To give gratitude two portions is really the trick. Because I think gratitude actually does make generosity, contentment, and eternity-mindedness possible.
So there it is. So far at least. I've been growing through this over the past year, and it's not done yet. We are not seeing much action at all on the listing, which is to be expected in today's market. But something's gotta' give eventually. And there will be hard goodbyes coming.
Not right now. Right now I am being fully present in the moment, just here on the deck, letting it be.
My deck-office view.
I'll keep you posted, of course.
Just thought it was time to tell this part of the story.
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