By Yielding Your Heart, You May Discover New Life

by Eric Elkin

“Looking around at them with anger, deeply grieved at their unyielding hearts, he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he did, and his hand was made healthy.”

— Mark 3:5

“Pleasant Valley” was a book written by Louis Bromfield in 1945. The book is a memoir of Bromfield’s quest to restore his family’s 1,000 acres farm outside Mansfield, Ohio. Years of agricultural abuse left the soil withered and dead. Bromfield worked tirelessly to return the land to its original health.

I doubt Louis Bromfield had any idea what a profound impact his book would have on a child growing up in poverty on a farm less than an hour away. Yet, when his mother placed the book in his hands, J. David Bamberger became enamored with the story. The theme of restoration spoke hope to a child who watched as his family and farm wither from scarcity.

As an adult, J. David Bamberger struck it rich. He got in on the ground floor of the Church’s Chicken franchise. Together with founder Bill Church, they built the business up until it had 1,600 franchises, then sold it. With some of the profits, Bamberger purchased 5,000 acres of the worst land he could find in the hill country of Texas.

“Conservation is a state of harmony between (humanity) and land. By land is meant all of the things on, over, or in the earth. Harmony with land is like harmony with a friend; you cannot cherish his right hand and chop off his left.”

— Aldo Leopold

The land Bamberger purchased was dry and desolate. Attempts to drill wells to access water revealed even the aquifers below ground were bone dry. So instead of drilling, he instructed workers to remove many cedar trees and replace them with native grasses. The native grasses absorbed rainwater and stored it under the ground.

After several years of labor, the once-dry land started overflowing with water. Today, the aquifers are so full that water bubbles up from the ground. Ducks and fish swim in the lakes formed from the abundance of water. The land is so rich with water that the excess flows down to Austin, Texas.

Bamberger calls the restored land “Selah.” It was born out of a childhood memory of reading the word in the psalms of the Bible. Selah means to stop, pause, and look at everything you see. Perhaps, he thought, if more people practiced selah, we all would learn to live with creation instead of against it.

You may read the story of Jesus healing a withered hand on the sabbath and think it an ancient fairy tale. Some fantastic feat that is no longer possible. Yet, examples of withered things restored to life are happening around us. We are just too busy to notice.

Sabbath is a physical discipline of Selah. God invites us to stop, pause, and look around at how we are supposed to live. Your hands may be strong and your house overflowing with water, but that does not mean everything is well. For many people today, the barren thing is their souls. We should all try yielding our hearts and stretching out our withered souls. We may discover new life.

Click to read Mark 3: 1-6