The Land

You ever think about how temporary everything is?  For instance, our health.  How many times have you heard of stories of someone going to the doctor's office and getting life changing news?  What about the stock market?  We're at an all time high right now, but I remember in 2008 when the bubble burst and the stock market was in free fall for a while.  In 2000 the tech bubble burst and lots of people's wealth evaporated overnight.  What about the value of the dollar?  Inflation?  Does anyone get a sinking feeling in their stomach that things aren't as rosy as they appear?  That everything is propped up and could come tumbling down like a house of cards?

I think some people are beginning to want to place their savings in investments that may be a better store of value than paper money, stocks, or other assets that quickly depreciate.  People are looking at land as being one of those investments.  My dad told me that farmland, even unimproved farmland, is selling for a very high price right now.  The demand for it is pushing prices northward.

I've been thinking about land lately.  The other night, we watched (again) the movie "Gone with the Wind"  What a great movie!  There is dialogue in the first part of the movie between Mr. O'Hara and his daughter Scarlett regarding land.  Scarlett, if you recall at the beginning of the movie, is a self-absorbed, spoiled brat who cares for nothing, except herself.  She's interested only in dresses, all the trappings of comfort and success, and of course, Ashley.  Her dad is trying to talk some sense into her.  Their talk goes like this:
Gerald O'Hara: It will come to you, this love of the land. There's no gettin' away from it if you're Irish.

Gerald O'Hara: Do you mean to tell me, Katie Scarlett O'Hara, that Tara, that land doesn't mean anything to you? Why, land is the only thing in the world worth workin' for, worth fightin' for, worth dyin' for, because it's the only thing that lasts.

Ah, the land...  I love it.  And I'm not even Irish!


Can you smell the "earthiness?"

Like the old saying goes, "They're not making any more of it."  That scarcity of supply alone bolsters its value.  But there is a sentimental aspect to it as well.  It becomes part of you.  I see it as more than just 'dirt.'  We have a family farm in Oberlin.  I hope we NEVER sell it.  Same with our little 5 acre farm. 

The love of the land makes people do curious things.  There have been numerous wars fought over it.  In the first chapter of Genesis, the Bible tells us that "God looked over all He had made and saw it was very good!"  The land and all that is in it is truly something to behold. 

They way I see it, in tough times, land is valuable.  It can grow grass that feed animals that in turn feed you.  It can grow crops to feed you, too.  A shiny new car can't do that.  The latest fashions can't either. 

There are downsides to land, however.  Real estate can drop in value as well.  It can also take our focus on the best investment and store of value - living life with an eternal perspective.  While Scarlett's Dad was mostly right, land isn't the only thing that lasts.

The Good Book tells us:

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and thieves break in and steal."  Matthew 6:19

While land is pretty to look at, we would be well-served to remember that we're strangers and aliens.  If we are believers in Christ, this world is but a temporary home.  Rather than trying to store up value here, we should remember that Jesus said to instead store up our treasures in Heaven where moth and rust do not destroy and thieves do not break in an steal.  I'm looking forward to Heaven.  How about you?