"This house is too small!" I often heard myself lamenting of our over-stuffed house. Then when I'd finished the housework and lay down on the sofa for a rest, a feeling of emptiness frequently swept over me.
"I'm lonely!" I complained to my husband, always perfectly content at his desk and a sheaf of papers to pore over. My loneliness was for my scattered family: little grand kids growing up and now great-grands who hardly knew me!
God must have heard me, for I now live in a spacious farm house with scenic views and a motley collection of animals to distract me. We had lived close between a house on either side, and except for my screened front porch, I had felt little privacy outside.
Then the other day when it seemed spring had finally come and we sat on a swing in the yard, I marveled at the beauty of nature all around us. The sky was a cerulean blue with fluffy white clouds floating like dollops of whipped cream, contrasting with the newly-green grass and leafed-out trees, their branches swaying in the friendly breeze.
Our tiny "herd" of goats dot the hill where they graze with their coats of brown and white, or black and white, like a moving picture. Neighborly horses are silhouetted on the horizon, and pink little pigs root in their pen in the barnyard, lorded over by a proud rooster overseeing the chickens and guineas.
I thought of scriptures in the Bible that say, "He also brought me out into a broad place; He delivered me because he delighted in me," Psalm 18:19, 2 Samuel 22:20.
And I am not lonely now! We have a grandson on the place, with his father often here between work assignments. There is never a dull moment with farm projects the men dream up and work at. Dinner is more than just two people saying, "Please pass the salt," but a lively conversation of shared interests and ideas punctuated with laughter or friendly debate.
With April speeding along, May will be here soon, followed by June, our anniversary month. We are expecting all our kids and as many grands as can come for this momentous occasion, our 60th Anniversary! That is one time I won't mind a crowded house!
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