The Necessary Maintenance of Barns

Took a drive today through the countryside and ended up at Remo’s Hotdogs in Gallipolis, OH (my new favorite hotdog joint).

During my meandering course through the hills of southeastern Ohio, I noticed the abundance of old barns on the farms along the way. I’ve always related, for some reason, to the weathered, and sometimes dilapidated, look of an old barn standing alone in a meadow, or beside an old country road, or on a hill near an old farmhouse.

Oftentimes, they look abandoned, and I’ve thought about what use they serve now sitting there empty or full of castaway items long forgotten and rejected by time.

There is a beauty in the way those old barns stand in stately ancestral pride, and, yet, in the same location we view a sad story of neglect.

The reality is, at some point their usefulness was no longer needed and for whatever reason they were left to stand as a testimony to the greatness that once was the American breadbasket.

Now, I don’t think those old faded barns were all intentionally left to fall into ruin, but over time each owner let down on some important area of maintenance.

Perhaps, one too many Summers went by without a fresh coat of paint.

Maybe, they intended to fix those hinges and broken window panes “soon.”

Or, the metal roof blown away in the storm exposing the rough hewn beams, rafters and trusses underneath were just too expensive and hopefully we’ll have the money next season, or after the harvest to fix it right.

I don’t know, I’m just speculating that those old beautiful haunted barns need not be neglected to the point of rejection, or abandonment.

I think relationships are often a lot like those once majestic barns. Their utility and usefulness are necessary and we really couldn’t do life properly without a well built and oft maintained relationship (with Jesus or friends or family or spouse).

Sometimes wistful thoughts of old friends, or even newer ones, come to mind and we realize that we’ve let up on maintaining healthy relationships. I’ve said it and I’ve heard it said, “Remember when…?”

I don’t think many relationships end overnight (it’s the rare occasion when a storm or fire destroys or burns down a barn). Instead, it’s the little areas of maintenance left undone that accumulate over time.

Things like, ignoring that inner voice that draws us to prayer; or to call someone; we engage in less and less one-on-one activity; miss events that we use to make time for and share with another; avoid real and meaningful conversations; diminish, or, God help us, eliminate prayer time; and so on.

So, today, not tomorrow or when you find the time, but right now, call that special loved one, or run by their house and sit on the porch with them. Turn off the cellphone and talk and listen and laugh and cry and dream and share and hope and pray and brush on that paint and tighten that hinge and glaze that pane and cover that roof.

-Stephen Kuntzman (6/6/2020)