We Bought a Farm: Finding Quiet in the Hills

"We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature -- trees, flowers, grass -- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence ... We need silence to be able to teach souls." Mother Theresa

Inside of myself, I live in the suburbs. It's crazy to write that because I will never live in the suburbs again. But Wendi, as she was born and created, lives in the suburbs. The core of Wendi is suburban. She drives a mini-van, and coaches her kids' sports team, and eats at places like Panera and drinks fancy drinks at coffee shops (even though she doesn't like coffee). She also only has one dog because more than one would be kind of ... "country." She would never ... ever ... wear work boots to the store to grab groceries. Ever. And she'd always have some mascara on and make sure her toes were painted. Those things would be important too.

But this Wendi that she is now digs up sweet potatoes and gets dirt under her nails and doesn't even really care. She walks behind a chicken tractor in her purple boots down the road outside their house as they relocate the birdies to their new home. (She is super happy to have purple boots because her feet are really big and most boots in "guy sizes" are not very girly in color.)

This Wendi hasn't been to a Target in a really long time even though she told her husband in quite exasperated and repetitive wording when they were looking at farms that whatever farm they bought would have to be within 30-minutes of a Target town.

This Wendi has so many words surrounding nature and the slow life swirling in her head. This morning the words had to do with fog. Like she could feel it and see it whirling right around her. You could see it in the Smoky Mountains that surround their farm, and she could feel it against her skin when she had to kneel down in chicken poop, and when she did it, she was still wearing her pajama pants. 

But the Wendi she is now is happy ... here. Far removed from the life her dreams told her she would have. She sees the craziness of the world, and she thinks: 

Why doesn't everyone just buy a little place in the country and not have a lot of money or a big job but eat their own sweet potatoes and pick blackberries and Persimmons and find joy sitting on the porch watching their three dogs race around the front yard? Who needs fancy vacations and pools? All we really need is to be able to dig in the earth and catch a snake and eat our own meat. Maybe the only job I can get is just working at the local gas station. But if I am taking care of my neighbors and spending time in God's creation would things like COVID and PRESIDENTS matter so much? 

This Wendi doesn't think they would. 

Because they don't. 

They don't matter to her.

To this Wendi and her family, they will vote. And they have been in the front-lines of COVID. But in the end, will the craziness matter so much if you have sweet potatoes and ducks and a hammock in the front yard?

Of course, there is a big world with big problems and big things going on. But if we are taking care of each other on a local level, the national level won't feel quite so big.

This Wendi really loves to dig in the dirt. And share tomatoes with her neighbors and hand eggs to a homeschool friend. 

Joy in nature. Finding quiet in the hills.