Something to Think About

Beauty in the Humblest Things

A Season of Growth

Growing through trial does not feel very good.  As my pastor has said, "Hard is not bad.  Hard is just hard." And, truly my difficulties pale in comparison to so many others.  My biggest problems are a result of my own doing, as well.  Choices have consequences, even good choices.  So, as I struggle, I am trying to keep in mind that hopefully at the end of this season, I will see fruit.  In the meantime, I am thankful to have opportunities for growth.

Start Where You Are

I love this quote!  It can apply to so many areas of my life.  I strive to use what I have and do what I can do. Right now I have some areas in my home that need my attention.  I have purged on a regular basis, but am needing to purge even more, I think.  We did get rid of our garage refrigerator.  That was hard.  We buy a lot of food for five people each week, but it was getting old and didn't keep things frozen during the winter months.  Still it was nice to have the refrigerator side working for extras.  We are not planning to buy another one.  I worked hard to get some organizing of our kitchen refrigerator done.  It is looking great.  It is still a squeeze, but doable.  And I like having a less cluttered garage.  It is always a work in progress in there.

Quotes From The Prairie

I just finished reading, Little Town on the Prairie, and The Long Winter.  I am currently reading These Happy Golden Years, all by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  I just love the wisdom from these books.  So, as I read, I jotted down in a notebook the following:

• "This life is a battle," said Ma.  "If it isn't one thing to contend with, it's another.  It always has been so, and it always will be.  The sooner you make up your mind to that, the better off you are, and the more thankful for your pleasures."
• "There's no great loss without some small gain."
• "We must not tempt Providence!"
• "Modulate your voice, Laura," Ma said gently. "Remember, 'Her voice was ever gentle, low, soft, and excellent thing in a woman." (Shakespeare, King Lear) 
• "Least said, soonest mended."
• "Nobody knows what will happen,"Pa said.  "Prepare for the worst and then you've some grounds to hope for the best, that's all you can do." 
• "Lost, between sunrise and sunset, one golden hour, set with sixty diamond minutes.  No reward is offered, for it is gone forever."  Horace Mann 

The House with Nobody in It

The House with Nobody in It 

by Joyce Kilmer

Whenever I walk to Suffern along the Erie track
I go by a poor old farmhouse with its shingles broken and black.
I suppose I've passed it a hundred times, but I always stop for a minute
And look at the house, the tragic house, the house with nobody in it.

I never have seen a haunted house, but I hear there are such things;
That they hold the talk of spirits, their mirth and sorrowings.
I know this house isn't haunted, and I wish it were, I do;
For it wouldn't be so lonely if it had a ghost or two.

This house on the road to Suffern needs a dozen panes of glass,
And somebody ought to weed the walk and take a scythe to the grass.
It needs new paint and shingles, and the vines should be trimmed and tied;
But what it needs the most of all is some people living inside.

If I had a lot of money and all my debts were paid
I'd put a gang of men to work with brush and saw and spade.
I'd buy that place and fix it up the way it used to be
And I'd find some people who wanted a home and give it to them free.

Now, a new house standing empty, with staring window and door,
Looks idle, perhaps, and foolish, like a hat on its block in the store.
But there's nothing mournful about it; it cannot be sad and lone
For the lack of something within it that it has never known.

But a house that has done what a house should do,
  a house that has sheltered life,
That has put its loving wooden arms around a man and his wife,
A house that has echoed a baby's laugh and held up his stumbling feet,
Is the saddest sight, when it's left alone, that ever your eyes could meet.

So whenever I go to Suffern along the Erie track
I never go by the empty house without stopping and looking back,
Yet it hurts me to look at the crumbling roof and the shutters fallen apart,
For I can't help thinking the poor old house is a house with a broken heart.

*I posted this after coming across it today in our school readings.  This is exactly how I feel when I see an old abandoned house.  

We Who Live in the Quiet Places

"We who live in the quiet places have the opportunity to become acquainted with ourselves, to think our own thoughts, and live our own lives in a way that is not possible for those who are keeping up with the crowd, where there is always something "on for tonight," and who have become so accustomed to crowds that they are dependent upon them for comfort."
Laura Ingalls Wilder

Beauty in the Humblest Things

"The power of finding beauty in the humblest things makes home happy and life lovely."

~Louisa May Alcott

"Envying someone else's life doesn't make your life better -- like actually enjoying your own life does."

~Ann Voskamp

Happy New Year

From the diary of a 1892 farm wife...

"January 1, 1892.  Clear and fine.  I have a great deal to be thankful for -- all the mercies of the year that has just passed.  May I be more faithful this year that has just commenced. May my children repent and turn unto thee.  Thou knowest how I want my children to give their hearts unto thee and in thy good time wilt thou answer my prayers." 
Josephine Jordan
http://1892farmwife.blogspot.com

Another great diary I'm reading is :

http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/SteHome.html. 

We have so much to learn from those who lived before us.  I find their diaries fascinating.  This year will be the third year that I keep a paper diary.  Perhaps 100 years from now, someone will find them equally interesting.  I have access to my own grandmother's day planners. I plan to read them again soon.  They were from 20 years ago.  We used to laugh that she wrote little bits down each day.  Now I do the same thing! 

I apologize for there not being links above.  I'm learning to use my tablet to blog and I can't always copy and paste when I want too.  :)

First World Problems

My week has been plagued by first world problems, you know, the kind that are annoying, but only exist because I am blessed to have a home in the first place.  Our old copper pipes, water pressure tank, and whole house water filter needed replaced.  Now there are gaping holes in three rooms that need fixed.  All these "problems" made me think about how thankful I am to have running water, a landlord with money to fix them, and skilled men to fix them.  I know that these are problems that other human beings would love to have.  Not every person has clean running water in their home.  Living here in excess skews my sense of having problems, big time.

Last night, as we made our way through a mega warehouse store, I found myself reminded of this again when they were out of a couple things that I thought I "needed!"  How many times a day do I think I need something?  Need is such an overused word!

This month, I've been writing down each day something that I am thankful for on my Facebook page.  It's been a great experience.  Each morning, I ask myself,"What am I most thankful for today?"  It's a great way to start my day!

Contentment is...

Contentment not a

fulfillment of what you want,

but the realization of what you

already have.

It is not a destination,

it is a state of gratefulness

before God.

~Joshua Harris

Quote from John Wesley

Of late,we have had the pleasure to read a lovely little book entitled, A Heart Strangely Warmed, by Louise A. Vernon.  In this book, a young boy encounters John Wesley and is quite impressed by the man's preaching, although, it takes awhile for the boy to understand all that is meant by conversion. 

I found a quote from John Wesley in the book that I want to ponder... 

"Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can." 

That about sums things up, I'd say!  

Truly Worthwhile Things, Never Change

"As you read my stories of long ago, I hope you will remember that the things that are truly worthwhile and that will give you happiness are the same now as they were then.  Courage and kindness, loyalty, truth, and helpfulness are always the same and always needed."

Laura Ingalls Wilder, in a letter to the Pomona Public Library, Pomona, CA.