A Busy Day Ahead

We are having more firewood delivered today and it looks like the timing is perfect as they are forecasting very cold weather for next week. It is always exciting to me when we have wood delivered, its more than just heat for our home, it represents a couple things that are very important to us. First, that we choose to step away from being dependant on fossil fuel and secondly, but by no means less important than the first reason, we choose to have a bit of that old fashioned life of sitting by the fire, of knowing the true meaning of keeping the home fires burning, of understanding what its like to wake up in a cold house only to be warmed by the copper flames leaping in the stove. It is a piece of that stepping back in time, when life was less stressful, was less consumed by things and stuff and worry about spending more than they have or even down to what should you be eating. In the old days, there was no worry about which diet to live by, you had the food you had and none of it was filled with chemicals and things you have no idea what on earth they are. I like the old fashioned way of thinking and living. It seems to me that in my grandmothers time, moderation was the norm for most folk. No one had credit cards that put them over the edge of financial peace. Women cooked, not a lot of room for being indolent. The concept of community was alive and well. You knew your neighbors.

Life wasn't perfect, it was hard, but there were fewer demands on your spending ability, fewer avenues to take you down the wrong road. Keeping up with the Joneses was left for a lofty minded few. No media bombardment. Your children were not having to see commercials that told them they HAD to have this or that.

Children knew the value of work. I suspect that is why right now, so many people admire and want to know more and more about the Amish and Plain Mennonites. They still have this kind of life. With fewer demands placed on us, we have more time to work on relationships, more time to see the hand of God all around us. To give undivided attention to prayer, to our children, to our spouse. I have taken a few steps "forward" in the past few years, modernized my life, looked more broadly at things and honestly, all it has made me do at this point, is run back to where I came from.
So, you see the firewood being delivered today is for me a reminder, along with some hard work of hauling it to the woodshed and then stacking it, that the simple life is so much freedom, so much of what I love about this life we have chosen to live.

here is a little Amish saying that makes you smile and is in fact a truth for today

“Success nowadays is making more money to pay taxes you wouldn’t be paying if you hadn’t made so much money”