Valuing the Everyday

Our two rows of plants resulted in 22 pumpkins. Most are decent sized, but not big.  I need to look up the expected size for the variety we used, because maybe these are the size they are supposed to get.  Different varieties grow different-sized fruit.  Or, they might be small because they almost drowned from irrigation water in the low area I planted them.  Today I'll cook one up and see how they taste.

The pumkins had mud on them.  We lined them up under the eve to dry.  When we can knock the dirt off, we'll move them downstairs to cure for two weeks before moving them to the cellar for long term storage.

The homeschool curriculum we use includes lots of historical novels. Some, the girls read on their own and others we read outloud.  With so much handwork to be done, we often combine it with our reading.  Our book this week is The Witch of Blackbird Pond.  My twins get enthralled with the story and aren't happy when the chapter ends.  I've never read it so I'm enjoying it as much as they are. 

One of the twins fills the chicken feeder each morning before opening the coop door.  It's a good system that gives the kids responsibility and spreads out the work.  The down side is that we sometimes deal with emergencies.  This morning our daughter let us know that the food was gone.  Not low, but gone.  My husband had to run out and fill the can with the help of our older daughter.  We buy wheat, oats, and ground corn from a local elevator and mix it ourselves.  The chickens won't starve.

Redirecting my life toward the land has made me face several assumptions I didn't even know I had.  I'm learning things that were common knowledge a hundred years ago, but they are new to us.  These are skills that do nothing more than keep people fed.  Is that the point?  Is it just about feeding or is actually about something more important?  I realize that I've assumed it is for something else.  People are fed so that they will do something big and important.  Or they will support a spouse who will.  Or their children will.  Just feeding seems so small and insignificant.  I've heard people talk about how important parenting is because their children may grow up to great, and I realize that they also think just plain parenting isn't enough, it has to lead to somebody doing something great.

Does God agree?  Is God only feeding us so that one of us will do something great?  Jesus said that God "causes it to rain on the just and the unjust" (Mat 5:45) as a sign of God's concern for all people.  This life on the land is teaching me that it really is about feeding us.  Period.  Nobody has to be "worthy" to be fed or even prepare for something great.  Feeding and loving are the point.  It seems that God is teaching me the value of the everyday, the value of my own life, with or without great things on my resume, and about the abundance and tenacity of God's love.  You'd think it was an easier lesson to learn.