This Land

I'm in the midst of big change.  Its times like these, emotions on overdrive, when I begin to wonder how we got here, and if this is the right place.  I spent six years after high school in college obtaining first bachelor then master degree, got married two weeks after I was finished, and had a baby just a few months after our first anniversary.  All good, positive milestones. But oh so fast. My husband was an advocate for me the entire time, though he stayed close to his family's dairy farm, working there while I traveled in pursuit of another degree.  So while I was moving and learning and growing all over the state, he was growing right at home. And I don't know how I missed it- that gypsy life I was leading couldn't continue with him at my side.

So we came home. And while it's good to be home,  there are times when I want to run. I often long to live in a place less rural, and more exciting.  I miss convenience of city life.  Like not having to drive a solid hour to the nearest Target or Starbucks.  And proximity to restaurants and urban entertainment. And how I've given up dreams of moving to beautiful places "just because" and starting our own life there because the family farm is here, not there.  I married a man who has an innate connection to this land, the one on which we live now.  The one hours from the nearest city, stores, coffee shops, good grocery stores and restaurants and shopping.  

So I've prayed.  To be humbled, to be less selfish, less needy, to want for less. To be happy where we are.  Because if not, I'll keep wanting for something beyond my needs.  This land, this rural land, is a gift.  It's a part of God's plan for us-- to slow down, raise our children in the place we were raised, be near our families, and have just enough.  

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect"  --Romans 12:2

So I've vowed to be grateful for this land, this place we call home.  Because it is beautiful.

And this, this is our home. 

I won't want for another place to live, and I'll thank God for this beautiful place he made, just for us. And the opportunity we have been granted here.  And see the bounty this land provides.  Because in this land resides our plan, written by God.  And in that, less is more.

Have a beautiful weekend,

Lisa