Lessons from the farm

When I meet people and tell them we live on a small cattle farm there are a handful of reactions I'm usually met with, but "surprise" being the biggest.  Eyebrows raise, smiles break out, and exclamations like "Really?!" usually resound. Yes, really.  We live in Northwest Arkansas, which I'm finding is sometimes a funny part of the state to live in when it comes to farming.  It isn't common at all for young families like ourselves to be into farming.  If you moved elsewhere in the state, a rural lifestyle would just simply be more normal.  

Yet here we are and this is our normal.  While other families may go on an evening walk, we often go check the cows.  Sometimes my sweet husband will even let me out to roam the pasture (wait, does that make me sound like a cow, lol) to take pictures while he and the girls put out the feed. 

It is a glorious life, indeed but you mustn't be fooled by all the pretty pasture pics.

Sometimes I think from the outside in, our lives must look ideal.  I've read several places before that the country/farm life is the good life.  And oh, it is certainly!  But what my photos don't capture are the loads of laundry that get folded every day, the times I raise my voice too loud at the girls, the late nights spent fixing the dishwasher and praying over it, the marriage-building conversations, the regular, run-of-the-mill errands and chores and cooking.  

My beautiful life may show up a little bit differently on the screen than yours, but the path our feet take to get here are still very similar.  A question I've asked myself a lot is, "Could I move to the city or a different house or neighborhood and STILL find the rosy in the routine?  Still let God guide my eyesight?"  

I ask myself that a lot because the whole "rosy in the routine" tagline isn't for catchy advertising.  It's all about my attitude.  I pray on a daily basis, to have eyes to see the presence of God, the beauty of God, the details of God no matter where I am or who I'm with.  Sometimes this is easier than others.  

Life can take so much from us, but my mind is the Lord's.  

And it's here that my rosy lies. 

Sure, our farm life is gorgeous and dreamy looking and we don't plan to ever leave. 

But if we did? 

I pray you'd find me still showing up here, my feet still having walked to the beat of finding the rosy in the routine.  The truth is, life is too hard and heart-breaking without God helping me see the glimmers of hope among the rubble. 

It reminds me of the bible verse "Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good."  Romans 12:21

I pray that if you find yourself in solitude or in the middle of a busy subdivision, 

among cows, cars, or crowds,

your eyes will land on the glimmer of beauty among the rubble of real life.