Fallow Land...fallow times

I was an adult before I even questioned what the word meant. Fallow.

My paternal grandfather owned a parcel of land--woods really--to which he referred to as "fallow field". During my childhood and adolescent years I always assumed it was just my grandfather's nickname for the hundred or so acres that he owned in Monroe County Alabama.

When I was about five years old, I accompanied my Daddy and grandfather to "fallow field". Often times they would just ride out there and look around. At the time it was densely thick with trees, underbrush, and weeds. A tiny path would take that old black Ford pick up truck throughout the property.

As we went along, the path became more narrow and before I knew it the tree limbs were coming inside the cab and the little black truck started plunging in and out of huge holes. And then we got stuck. And that's when I began to bawl at the top of my lungs. Apparently, my Daddy wasn't too concerned about our present dilemma as he was filming me with his new 8mm camera throughout my melt down.

I was a child of the city. I was accustomed to sidewalks, street lamps, people, and traffic. Thick woods and lonely, tiny pathways were quite foreign to me. I was scared, I was not going to stop crying and I wanted to go home.

Funny how things stay with you into adulthood. To this day I am not very fond of the woods, I get kinda scared and I still wanna go home. I try not to cry. Even traveling for long periods of time on wooded highways give me the heebie jeebies.

Fallow describes land that is not planted with crops, in order to improve the quality of the soil(Cambridge Dictionary).Farmers would sometimes leave their land untilled for a period of time in order for the nutrients in the soil to replenish and renew.

Fallow also describes a period of time in which very little happens. A state of inactivity.

The Lord has been teaching me about "fallowness".

I've been listening--ever so carefully.

"Be still, and know that I am God"(Psalm 46:10)