Joy in my own Front Yard

I have been complaining about the state of our front pasture for months now. It has been unkept and wild looking for quiet sometime. For a pasture this is not such a big deal, except our pasture is also our front yard. It is the first thing you see when you enter our driveway. I admit it, I was embarrassed. “What must the neighbors and clients who come here think?”, I kept lamenting. We don’t have a tractor anymore and we have to pay someone for this service, and other expenses precluded our getting it done. I know I was driving Chris crazy with all this complaining.

It all stopped last weekend, when I decided to go exploring down there and assess the damage. What I found, (instead of monkeys and boa constrictors hanging from trees), was a yellow flower wonderland. The bitter weed was the tallest I had ever seen it, and was exploding in golden blossoms everywhere. The sun shone through it and I laughed out loud, not only at the joy I felt, but at myself for complaining so much. I knew God had was smiling too. I imagined all the things He was saying to me through this. You can probably imagine too. He knows me through and through. Only God would know the happiness that billowing bitter weed in the sun’s afternoon light would bring me. Only God would make this happen for me in the midst of my  own ignorance and complaining.

A scripture found in Psalm 37 resonated in my heart. “Trust in the LORD and do good. Dwell in the land and find safe pasture”. (emphasis mine) Psalm 37:3.

How can we enjoy a land we don’t dwell in? How can we dwell in a land we don’t even walk in? The thought of dwelling in the land means so many things to me. Here are just a few:

• Be present. Thinking about next week or the past is not living in the spaces I have already been given. Live and breathe where I am right now. This includes where I am in my photography.
• Be content. Enjoying what I have is essential to my happiness. How many other beautiful spaces of blooming flowers have I missed because I chose to complain from a distance?
• Move your feet. Walking down to the pasture was an active thing for me to do. Getting my hands and feet dirty resulted in a happy and content heart.

Another happy discovery was that the pear tree in the middle of the flowers was full of delicious ripe pears. Chris came down  and we picked the pears together. Soon thereafter, Annie came home from school for the weekend and we all enjoyed the beauty together. My heart was full and grateful. Here are some images of just how much my Father loves me.

The newly named “elbow tree”.

Worship.

Love these hands…