Fixing the Pond
I love my pond! Ever since I was a little girl, peering, with Aunt Marilyn, into Grandpa and Grandma's tiny, front yard pond, I've been fascinated with ponds and fish and water--the entire package has always brought me joy. So, I was thrilled to find that this house had a backyard pond, a seven-by-seven foot square, concrete hole in the ground, three feet deep, painted light blue. It was quite an eyesore, and it didn't hold water any more, but it certainly had potential.
Meagan was 13, I think, when she and our friend, Mark, helped me reconstruct the pond. We researched and gathered materials, and worked for hours in the hot summer sun, stacking concrete blocks in the bottom of the pond to create stair-stepped layers, then layering sand and sheets of Styrofoam insulation, before stretching a flexible pond liner over the square hole, and adding hundreds of gallons of cold water. What a thrill it was to watch the water rise up the sides of the pond, molding the liner into place! We added a lot of rocks and a few water plants--reeds of some kind, from the Wounded Knee Creek that flows through the middle of the family ranch near Gordon, and a water lily and some water lettuce, purchased from a local garden store. Bill installed a pump, with a fountain, to aerate the water, and built a wooden bench that covered the edge of the pond, all the way around. After a few days, we added several goldfish, and the pond was complete.
As I've worked on the pond, I've been comparing my work to the work God did when he created the world and everything in it. It's an imperfect comparison, for sure, but I can begin to understand the joy God experienced when he looked at his creation and proclaimed it to be good.
I could see the fish from my kitchen window! We trained them to rise to the surface whenever we threw in a few pellets of fish food. I sat on the bench every day, just gazing into the water. Our pond was perfect!
And then, it wasn't.
Almost without warning, the pond was invaded by an algae bloom. Soon, the water turned green, and the algae obscured the rocks and fish from view. Gingerly, I extended my hand into the pond and pulled out as much algae as I could reach. I fashioned a net, of sorts, from an old broom handle with a piece of pantyhose stretched across a wire hanger that I had molded into an oval, attached to the end of the dowel; it worked reasonably well to scoop the algae out of the middle of the pond.
And, just as that algae invaded my pond, so sin invaded the world. I was annoyed. God must have been heart-broken.
And so began our battle to keep the pond clear enough to see the fish. We bought Green-Away to kill the algae, and Brown-Away to try to clear up the water. We submerged a barley bail, which was supposed to keep the algae at bay, with limited results. I kept pulling slimy, green algae out of the pond every day. We bought a new pond skimmer--a large fish net with a long handle. The filter system we added to the pump helped somewhat. So did the triangular sunshade we suspended above the pond.
Finally, when Bill and I were touring some gardens in our area, we talked with a homeowner who had a beautiful, algae-free pond, and discovered that he had bought a UV filter to keep his pond free of algae. Bill figured out a way to make a similar, cheaper filter out of some PVC pipe and a special light bulb. It worked quite well, although the pond has never been as crystal clear as I would like. But I could see the bottom of the pond, and the fish, and that's all that mattered.
Over the years, Bill figured out the most efficient way to cover the pond in the winter time, also using a tank heater to keep the water from freezing, so the fish would over-winter. His system worked well, as long as we remembered to vent the cover on those warm, late winter days, so we could avoid the algae bloom that results from an over-heated pond. (Some things have to be learned the hard way.)
We have cared for our imperfect pond, working hard to make it the best it can be. In the same way, God still cares for our imperfect world, even though it is filled with imperfect, sinful people.
This spring, when we removed the pond cover, the water level was several inches lower than usual, but I assumed that it had evaporated when the pond was vented. I scooped out some disgusting algae, and added water, only to find that the water level dropped rapidly again. We had a leak!
After eighteen years, I suppose a leak or two is inevitable, since pond liners are not meant to last forever. We bought a patch kit, and set out to find the hole in the liner. Bill thought it would be easy to remove the bench and lift the edge of the liner, and it was. But we couldn't find a hole. We tried using a flashlight after dark. I thought I saw a glimmer of orange light on the west side of the liner, but I couldn't be sure. We tried the milk trick. With the pond filled with water and the pump turned off, I squirted a little milk around the edge of the pond, watching to see if it drifted toward a particular spot at the edge as the water level dropped. Some of the milk seemed to move toward the same spot where I had seen a little light shining through the liner.
It was a warm morning in late July when Victoria and I pulled out the patch kit and attempted to patch a large section of the liner, right at water level, in hopes that we would repair the leak. However, when I noticed some little plant roots growing through the liner, I figured we would need a miracle to fix the leak.
And of course, the pond still leaks. I'm planning to order a new liner. When it arrives, I'll invite Meagan to join the rest of the family for a full day of pond maintenance. We will have to remove the fish and plants and rocks, drain the pond, pull out the filter system and the offensive, gunky liner, and dispose of it somehow, before we can install and trim the new liner, and put everything back together. It will be a hot, messy, necessary job, but it will be worth it to have a brim-full, sparkling clean pond once again--until the algae blooms.
Just as I will have to completely clean out the pond and install a new liner, God had to take drastic measures to "fix the leaks" that are caused by our sin. He sent Jesus to clean up our slimy, gunky sin. It wasn't easy; it was an awful, agonizing job, when Jesus suffered and died to take our sin completely away. But it was worth it, for all of us who trust in him, because now we are clean, like a pond with a brand new liner. That doesn't mean we will remain sin-free, but when sin reappears in our lives, as it does from time to time, just like the algae inevitably reappears in my pond, we have the assurance that Jesus took care of our sin, once and for all. In God's sight, we remain full to the brim with His Spirit, and sparkling clean forever.
Meagan was 13, I think, when she and our friend, Mark, helped me reconstruct the pond. We researched and gathered materials, and worked for hours in the hot summer sun, stacking concrete blocks in the bottom of the pond to create stair-stepped layers, then layering sand and sheets of Styrofoam insulation, before stretching a flexible pond liner over the square hole, and adding hundreds of gallons of cold water. What a thrill it was to watch the water rise up the sides of the pond, molding the liner into place! We added a lot of rocks and a few water plants--reeds of some kind, from the Wounded Knee Creek that flows through the middle of the family ranch near Gordon, and a water lily and some water lettuce, purchased from a local garden store. Bill installed a pump, with a fountain, to aerate the water, and built a wooden bench that covered the edge of the pond, all the way around. After a few days, we added several goldfish, and the pond was complete.
As I've worked on the pond, I've been comparing my work to the work God did when he created the world and everything in it. It's an imperfect comparison, for sure, but I can begin to understand the joy God experienced when he looked at his creation and proclaimed it to be good.
I could see the fish from my kitchen window! We trained them to rise to the surface whenever we threw in a few pellets of fish food. I sat on the bench every day, just gazing into the water. Our pond was perfect!
And then, it wasn't.
Almost without warning, the pond was invaded by an algae bloom. Soon, the water turned green, and the algae obscured the rocks and fish from view. Gingerly, I extended my hand into the pond and pulled out as much algae as I could reach. I fashioned a net, of sorts, from an old broom handle with a piece of pantyhose stretched across a wire hanger that I had molded into an oval, attached to the end of the dowel; it worked reasonably well to scoop the algae out of the middle of the pond.
And, just as that algae invaded my pond, so sin invaded the world. I was annoyed. God must have been heart-broken.
And so began our battle to keep the pond clear enough to see the fish. We bought Green-Away to kill the algae, and Brown-Away to try to clear up the water. We submerged a barley bail, which was supposed to keep the algae at bay, with limited results. I kept pulling slimy, green algae out of the pond every day. We bought a new pond skimmer--a large fish net with a long handle. The filter system we added to the pump helped somewhat. So did the triangular sunshade we suspended above the pond.
Finally, when Bill and I were touring some gardens in our area, we talked with a homeowner who had a beautiful, algae-free pond, and discovered that he had bought a UV filter to keep his pond free of algae. Bill figured out a way to make a similar, cheaper filter out of some PVC pipe and a special light bulb. It worked quite well, although the pond has never been as crystal clear as I would like. But I could see the bottom of the pond, and the fish, and that's all that mattered.
Over the years, Bill figured out the most efficient way to cover the pond in the winter time, also using a tank heater to keep the water from freezing, so the fish would over-winter. His system worked well, as long as we remembered to vent the cover on those warm, late winter days, so we could avoid the algae bloom that results from an over-heated pond. (Some things have to be learned the hard way.)
We have cared for our imperfect pond, working hard to make it the best it can be. In the same way, God still cares for our imperfect world, even though it is filled with imperfect, sinful people.
This spring, when we removed the pond cover, the water level was several inches lower than usual, but I assumed that it had evaporated when the pond was vented. I scooped out some disgusting algae, and added water, only to find that the water level dropped rapidly again. We had a leak!
After eighteen years, I suppose a leak or two is inevitable, since pond liners are not meant to last forever. We bought a patch kit, and set out to find the hole in the liner. Bill thought it would be easy to remove the bench and lift the edge of the liner, and it was. But we couldn't find a hole. We tried using a flashlight after dark. I thought I saw a glimmer of orange light on the west side of the liner, but I couldn't be sure. We tried the milk trick. With the pond filled with water and the pump turned off, I squirted a little milk around the edge of the pond, watching to see if it drifted toward a particular spot at the edge as the water level dropped. Some of the milk seemed to move toward the same spot where I had seen a little light shining through the liner.
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| Our leaky pond, with its ugly liner exposed |
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| Attempting to fix the leak |
We have tried lots of things to fix our pond. Some have worked better than others. But those nasty roots have put holes in the pond liner--too many holes that just can't be repaired. Unlike me, God knew from the very beginning that it would take something radical to fix the vile, permeating sin in our world. But, He had a plan...
And of course, the pond still leaks. I'm planning to order a new liner. When it arrives, I'll invite Meagan to join the rest of the family for a full day of pond maintenance. We will have to remove the fish and plants and rocks, drain the pond, pull out the filter system and the offensive, gunky liner, and dispose of it somehow, before we can install and trim the new liner, and put everything back together. It will be a hot, messy, necessary job, but it will be worth it to have a brim-full, sparkling clean pond once again--until the algae blooms.
Just as I will have to completely clean out the pond and install a new liner, God had to take drastic measures to "fix the leaks" that are caused by our sin. He sent Jesus to clean up our slimy, gunky sin. It wasn't easy; it was an awful, agonizing job, when Jesus suffered and died to take our sin completely away. But it was worth it, for all of us who trust in him, because now we are clean, like a pond with a brand new liner. That doesn't mean we will remain sin-free, but when sin reappears in our lives, as it does from time to time, just like the algae inevitably reappears in my pond, we have the assurance that Jesus took care of our sin, once and for all. In God's sight, we remain full to the brim with His Spirit, and sparkling clean forever.
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