Gratefulness …
Sometimes it can be so hard to feel...
So many times it’s easier for us humans to focus on what’s going wrong instead of what’s going right.
But focusing on the ways we’ve been blessed brings true happiness, while complaining just brings us and others down.
Things have been pretty rough getting this farm and ranch on its feet and starting to run. The list of hardships would just make you bored. But lately, due to multiple reasons, I’ve been feeling pretty darn down about it all.
Wondering …
Is this what God is really calling our family to do?
Man. This sure is a lot of work … is it really worth it?
That little voice in my head often rears its ugly head and says … are you sure you can do this?
The kids, the farm, work, the animals, the land, the fences, the building, your marriage, … the, the, the …
Then I sit back and start to think of the many ways God has blessed us and the big and little ways He is showing us the way...
Our youngest daughter, the light of our whole family … giving baby Jesus a kiss on the Epiphany this year …
Recently we were absolutely FLOORED when a dear friend of mine, a fellow DVMom, and her husband, GAVE us a set of stocks.
Gave.
As in, “Here it is. No strings attached. We love you and believe in you.”
Stocks are in blue.
This picture may not look like much to you. We still need to reassemble them.
But when my husband told me I just couldn’t believe my ears and thought either I was hearing him wrong or he had heard them wrong. But he repeated it again, just the same, and with such a smile on his face I could feel the relief flooding his body in getting such a large project checked off his to do list just out of the blue.
Completely blindsided. In a good way. Really good way.
(Stocks are a tool we use to restrain large animals (horse and cows) to work on them. That may be milking, or doing a medical procedure, or even for young children to practice brushing and it gently and safely keeps the animal standing in one place.)
My husband could have welded us a set for our barn (which is what we were planning to do), but it wouldn’t have been so heavy-duty as these … and we would have had to source the supplies … and he would have had to take the time … you get it … and everything on a farm takes at least 10 times as long as you think it will, and costs at least 3 times as much. Ha. Ask me how I know …
But this GIFT felt to me just as loud as if God had knocked on our door and literally said:
“You’re doing it! Keep doing it!
You’re making a difference and I want you to keep going!”
I don’t know if our friends really know how much this means to us. I hope they do.
It really means the wold to have people rooting for you. Believing in you.
It really makes it all worth it.
So we’re listening to the voices of love in our life. The friend who pays us more than asked just because they love us … The other friend who comes to help and hang out and follow us around our crazy life, investigating earthworm trails in the mud after a rain … The other friend who buys more beef than they really need just because they love us and want to help … Our families who, on both sides, have given of their time and resources and pray for our farm to be a success … Our children who are healthy and thriving … Our animals who give their lives for us … Friends who open their homes to us to relax and feel “normal” for awhile … the list goes on.
We all have trouble in this life, but looking for the good, for the blessings, for the love, that is what we all need a real big dose of sometimes..
