Perspective...

A very dear, sweet, young lady I know is one of the most brilliant artists I have the privilege of calling a neighbor and a friend.  She is wise beyond her years.

Here is a quote and photo from a recent Facebook post:

"Yesterday evening in the garden...the garden that is thigh high in grass and weeds. It sways in the breeze and hums loudly with insects. When you walk through, you hear field rats scurrying to get away 😂 The tomato plants have grown so tall they've leaned over and created a canopy. Seedy grasses, fragrant herbs and bright pops of color draw in all sorts of birds and pollinators. It's a glorious little patch of wildness. I'm just going withn it." Rebecca Joye @ Joy Haven Farm

  

Photo Credit - Rebecca Joye @ Joy Haven Farms 

Her post is all about perspective and it got me thinking.

Lately, things have been kinda crazy here around the farm....well, more crazy than normal even for us!  It seems like every time we turn around there is another unexpected expense that has to to be taken care of immediately.

You see, we used our Lowe's care and our Tractor Supply credit cards to purchase all the items we needed to install the much needed pasture fence, stalls, etc. that our sheep boys and our Great Pyrenees pups needed to move them out of the backyard.  We used them wisely and were able to obtain zero percent interest for long period of time so we won't have to pay anything extra in interest...BUT, my farmer man and I hate to be in debt...even with zero percent interest. 

We have been very diligent about paying both of these debts down just as quickly as possible, but it seems like since we have occurred this debt everything else now needs to be repaired, replaced or medical attention!  All three vehicles need some kind of repair, the refrigerator decided to quit working and Paddy needed some veterinary care for corneal ulcers...just to name a few of the things that need or needed immediate attention.

It could be very easy to focus of all the things that are going wrong and lose sight of all the good things that happen every single day. It is all about Perspective.

I was washing dishes yesterday morning, before taking our sweet neighbor for a surgical procedure, when I noticed a pair of our Eastern Phoebes, also known as Fly Catchers, out in the garden.  It made me stop and think.  These two, a mated pair, usually have two to three nests each year and raise about 5 per clutch. That is sometimes 15 babies in one season! These two do not worry about where they will live, what they will eat and how they will raise their young. They just do what God made them to do. It reminded me of the verse in Matthew 6:25-34...

"Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?  And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these..."

As I was putting the half and half creamer back into the cooler on the porch and not back in the warm refrigerator I literally stopped.  How can I be so frustrated about an inconvenience like a refrigerator not working with I have so very much else to be so grateful for.  I was ashamed.

You see, last week, much of the panhandle of Florida and Southern Georgia was devastated by Hurricane Michael. Many families have lost everything. Their homes, their jobs, and some even lost family members. They have nothing,. No where to call home, no job to help them rebuild and many are living in their cars.  If they are "lucky" they have family or friends that they can stay with. I cannot begin imagine the multitude of destruction those areas are enduring and will continue to deal with for many months to come.

Many of those affected the hurricane would thankful have a home, electricity, running water, a job to go to and yes, even a non working refrigerator.

It just humbled me to think about all we are so very blessed with that we too often take for granted...until it is gone.

Our refrigerator is now humming away this morning and all the coolers are empty on the porch. It was a minor inconvenience for a very short period of time, but it was also a lesson for me.  A lesson in perspective.

Do we still have the debts to pay? Yes

Do we still have three different vehicles that need work? Yes

Do we still have animals that need medical attention? Yes

BUT...

We are blessed to have good jobs and income to pay those debts in a timely manner,

We are blessed to have three vehicles that are paid for and will be repaired soon,

We are blessed to have some pretty awesome animals who give us such joy and an awesome veterinarian who is helping our Paddy boy's eyes heal....

We have so much more than just this to be thankful for!

I hope that you will join me in making a conscious choice every day to change our perspective.  Let's look for the good each day, the blessings, the positive and not focus on the negative. Let's change our perspective.