My life is good, it’s really good.  I have a wonderful husband who loves me and the kids dearly.  We have some great kids and a beautiful home (although our home is in need of more than a few updates).  Our home sits on just under 1/4 acre which gives us ample room for a good-sized garden.  A big portion of our yard is fenced for the dogs and kids.  I’m able to be a stay-at-home mom and homeschool.  I could go on and on with my list of positives and yet I find myself discouraged from time-to-time as I long for more.  Not more cars or a bigger house, but more land.  Specifically, more land that allows us to raise more of our own food.  I suppose it’s not a bad thing to want more if that more has the potential to improve our life, but sometimes my desire to be living on our homestead causes me to overlook all the good we have right here and now.

One of my favorite blogs is Farmgirl School and her blog post today gave me a little perspective that was greatly needed.  I’m sure she didn’t write her blog with the intention of speaking to me personally, yet she did.

You see, I spent a good chunk of my morning outside working in the garden.  Our garden provides us good, healthy food and our goal is to raise our own food, so spending time in the garden makes me feel good.  Yet this morning I found myself spending a lot of that time feeling discouraged.  How much longer will I be spending in this garden instead of my large homestead garden?  Will we ever find the right piece of property?  Will we be able to afford it?  How much longer before we can live on the property?  When will we have our farm animals?

These questions plague me much too often and I’m sent spiraling downward into massive periods of doubt and frustration.  Instead, I should  be looking around at the things I do have and appreciating them.  Every day I’m learning something new.  Every day we are creating memories.  We have history here and that history should be treasured.

Being discouraged does nothing to change the past or the future.  I need to be consciously aware of all the wonderful things in my life today and focus more of my time and energy on what I can do where I’m at.  The future will fall into place in the right time and I don’t want to leave this home regretting all the days I spent focused on discouragement.  So thank you Farmgirl School for your blog post today.  It gave me perspective and sometimes a little perspective . . . . . goes a long way!!