The tears flowed as she hauled yet another bag into the trailer to sort and organize.
"I have too much stuff mom!"
"Sweetheart, if everyone had to carry all of their earthly belongings everywhere they went it would be easy to feel the burden of stuff"
My sweet girl sat down on the one free seat that wasn't covered in school books, boots, clothes, and work gloves.
As we talked about all the different things that fill her grown up life, she started to understand just how pared down things really are. "Make the most of it girl...."
There are few opportunities to live so simply that you can know beyond a shadow of a doubt what you really need. This is one of those times. We are learning daily that we need God's grace to make it through the very long days and a very few material possessions.
So with curls sweeping over her shoulder, she writes. Her right hand is decorated with two bracelets she wears everywhere. The first is a gift from a dear friend that simple says "grace." The second is one that says "I am second" reminding her that Christ is and should always be first in her life.
I left the trailer to go pull wire with Jordan and came back later to find these words. Can a heart be so full that it wants to break at the goodness of God in the life of our family? I am so thankful for the refining challenge of living with little.
Her sense of humor shining through the struggle...she wrote the words of a silly Willie Nelson song on her bin...
I worry some days about how this crazy adventure looks to those around us.
I worry about all the time I am asking the youngers to spend entertaining themselves while we work.
I worry about how we will finish before the snow flies.
I worry about too many things when God has always been and alway will be faithful.
All is grace.
I was reminded of that lavishly last night when at 10:00 at night my little man crawled from his warm bed in the trailer, pulled on his coveralls and his head lamp and walked over to the barn where his daddy and I were working to check on his drying paint.
Earlier in the evening he had secretly gathered scraps of wood from the job site and built this momma a bench to rest on.
Oh how ugly beautiful! The love of a seven year old man to his momma. The paint was still dripping wet as he presented his gift to me. Lavish grace for the moment. I needed to know that what we were doing was the right thing.
Thankful for this opportunity for all of our kids to stretch and grow in their understanding of what is important.
By God's grace the next post will be from the warmth of our barn house and we will be all tucked in for winter.
