Green Acres

I want to live on a farm.  For most of you that know me, you might have just laughed out loud a little!  But I'm serious.  Nate and I will sit around and talk about what we see for our lives in the future and both of our dreams involve living on some land.  I've always been raised in the suburbs, never really been on that many farms, I HATE bugs, rodents and snakes, but I want to live on a farm.

I think the heart of it is that I feel most connected to God when I am in His creation.  You see the beauty that He created and the way that nature works and there is just no denying His power.  I have two distinct memories of meeting God in creation.

The summer after I had just finished 7th grade, I went on vacation with a friend to Amelia Island.  I hadn't been on vacation to the East Coast in long time, we always went to the gulf.  It was a great trip, but one of the most memorable things from that trip was watching the sunrise directly over the ocean.  My friend woke me up very early one morning and had me follow her down to the beach.  You could barely see the sun peeking up from the horizon.  We just sat there for about an hour in silence watching the sun come up.  The sky was filled with the most brilliant purple, orange and pink that I have ever seen.  The sound of the ocean and the seagulls was the only thing we could hear.  It was simply beautiful.

The summer after I graduated from college I had to opportunity to go visit a friend out west in Teton Park.  It is the only trip I have ever made out west and I desperately want to go back.  We stayed on a ranch with the Tetons right in our backyard and the only thing separating the buffalo and antelope from us was a simple fence.  That alone was breath taking.  We only stayed there one night, but that night happened to be clear and we were able to watch the sun set behind the mountains.  It had been 80 degrees that day and quickly dropped down to 40.  We sat outside watching the sun go down and as it did the sky changed into about 4 different brilliant shades of blue until everything went black.  The amazing thing is once it went black, there were so many stars that it looked like someone had taken dust and thrown it into the sky.  I sat out there way after my friends went inside marveling at God's creation.  Beautiful.

I think the ache in my heart to live on land is because that is what I equate it with - God's beauty.  Again, I know the reality of what living on a farm would be - and the expense.  But if it was ever able to happen for us, I think I would somehow learn to be thankful for the bugs, rodents, snakes and hard work because I would get to step out my door and take a deep breath in and feel what I felt those two summers, every single day.

But until then, here's to seeing the beauty of God in the simple every day around me right now.  It's not quite as grand, but life is still beautiful.  And if I never get that land, I know that I'm going to get to feel 10 times that for eternity - so I'll look for the simple things and be glad!