I ran into a great article today called “Life On The Homestead” by Jenna Woginrich in Mother Earth News magazine. It’s about a young woman that graduated from design school but has found happiness on a farm raising her own animals and growing her own food.
In her article she stated,
“Living the way you want has nothing to do with how much land you have or how much you can afford to spend on a new house. It has to do with the way you choose to live every day and how content you are with what you have.”
Jenna still works a 9-5 job as a web designer to pay the bills but has found joy on her homestead tending to her animals and working the land. (Check out her blog coldantlerfarm.blogspot.com)
When I read that statement, it really made me think of Paul. He says in Philippians 4:11-13,
“Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”
He was explaining to the Philippians that he’s gone through times of intense need and times of abundance thanks to the church. However, it wasn’t the material possessions or people that he put his confidence in but through Jesus Christ that he put his faith in that ultimately leads to contentment no matter the situation.
I may live in a small house in the metro but God has given me so much to be thankful for. So much so that I LOVE my little 2 bedroom house that is just big enough for my husband and I and our 2 boys. I love the community garden in my neighborhood. And I love that God found my family a home with a big enough backyard where I can have 4 chickens and 2 German Shepherd dogs. As I become more interested in sustainability, I find myself wanting many things. I dream about living on an acreage where my husband and I can have a lot of land to raise animals and to grow a big garden. I start to daydream about a bigger kitchen and a walk in pantry to store preserved veggies from the garden. It’s then that I find myself uncontent in where I’m at in life or I should say, where God has me. Just writing that I have come to realize that God has put me in the perfect place where he wants me now. If I stray from that, I walk in my way and not His.
On that note, I’ve been so happy with the warm weather and SPRING. The time of year where God’s being is evident in everything. People out for walks with their strollers and dogs, children swinging on swings and sliding down slides, strawberry plants beginning to emerge from the thaw of the ground, seedlings growing their first set of true leaves as they continue to grow indoors. It’s an amazing time and it’s this feeling of freedom that one gets after enduring such a hard cold winter. I am overjoyed!
Seedlings growing their first set of true leaves
I actually want to move to the countryside. I am living in a city surrounded with a lot of temptations not only for me but for the kids.. toy store, computer games and etc. As I pray to God for a godly, Christian husband, I also want to raise my kids in a different environment. Thanks for the post.