The lines of the farm long ago blurred into little yards with now-old houses, but my cozy farm house remains. It has stood for nearly 100 years and I wonder as I putter through cleaning and straightening, how did they live here then? I still dust up bits of coal that float down from tiny nooks and crannies, from winters long ago, and I picture them warming themselves around coal-fed heat.
They’re mostly gone now, and I’ll be gone too some day. Probably best to just live today, with a thankful heart and a song and do a little of this and a little of that. Getting too caught up in any one thing can consume a day and then what do we have?
I’ll open the curtains today and look out at the gray, rainy day, the only brightness being the vibrant leaves, blowing to the ground in a blaze of color. I’ll straighten just a little. Come across a few things that I might decide we no longer need. Maybe tidy a shelf or two. I’ll sweep out the leaves that have blown in with gusts of wind and have ridden in on the children’s shoes. But there I must stop.
The important things are bigger than that, but they are quieter than that. They don’t call out as loudly. I must seek them out. Quiet time and a thankful heart to start the day. Cuddling up with a quickly-growing-up 10-year-old girl to do lessons and read a good book out loud. A cup of tea and a bit of a magazine for me. Enjoying time in the kitchen, dancing around to soothing classical music, as I thankfully prepare what we’ll eat today.
Enjoy your day. Take little breaks of thankfulness throughout the day.
Lynn
for you to leave a comment, but you can also e-mail me at lynn AT thehealthyhomeschool.com
For the last twenty years, before I get out of bed I push aside any negatives and find something
To be thankful for…
My husband fell 18 feet off a ladder on Monday; our woodstove pipe broke his fall.
This morning as I listened to him hobble into the bathroom (he his very sore and very bruised but OK)
I was thankful that he could walk… a father of one of the boys’ on my son’s high school soccer team fell
half as far and is now in a wheel chair….
I am truly thankful….
Oh, Louise, that is such a fall. I am so glad he was not gravely injured. As you said, it could have been so much worse. We don’t know what a day will bring, do we? It’s so important to be content and love our family and do what we need to do — TODAY.
Lynn