From the Dust

The shimmering green of grapevines lace the terraced hillside before us, framed by walnut trees and native California flowers. Behind us, Jack London’s cottage beckons with its story. We rest a minute, drinking in the light scent of lavender that perfumes the breeze. It is no wonder the famed writer chose to make his life in this tiny town: the views are spectacular.

Jack’s passion for travel led him all over the world. He experienced many sights that the rest of us only dream about. Many of these experiences became the foundations for his prolific writing career; none of his works more famous than Call of the Wild and White Fang. But those views weren’t his primary reason for settling in the town of Glen Ellen. When he and his second wife, Charmian, arrived, the farms in the area were played out. In fact, six ranchers before London had given up on the very land he purchased. But London figured he could make a go of it, and he did. Applying methods he gleaned from his travels, he and Charmian turned the property into a profitable farm.

Where others saw only hopeless dust and waste, he saw the potential for fruit.

How often do we also look with tired eyes on the world and see only emptiness and impossibility? Perhaps the bloom of life is still there, perhaps there is hope in resurrecting a dream or a promise or in taking up a new purpose, if we only have the vision and desire to learn what it takes. If only we apply that learning to make something new grow from the dust.