What I've Been Missing

You know the old saying, You don't know what you've been missing?  Well I've missed a lot in my 34 years and I didn't know it.  Now I know I'm not a full fledged farmer.  I know I'm just playing at it and I'm completely inept.  But I'm trying.  And since I've been trying, a whole new world has opened up to me.  Before moving out here and feeding animals and trying to grow stuff, I never realized the subtle changes of the earth.  At some point in the summer I would get really annoyed that I wanted to put the kids to bed and the sun was still up.  At some point in the winter I would think, "Man it sure got dark early today!"  I never noticed the grass turning green.  I just cringed when it was apparent the neighbors were about to call the city on my too tall lawn.  I never saw the leaves begin to fall from trees.  I was just inconvenienced by the huge piles of untansversable debris that appeared overnight.  I never paid any attention to the moon, or the birds, or the bugs, or the wind.  Now it's different.  I have to get up with the sun to let the roosters out and put them back in at sunset.  Everyday it's clear that morning is coming sooner and night is coming later.  I squealed with joy at the first green blade of grass.  It meant that soon our feed bill would start decreasing (for animals and humans).  I watched everyday as the trees budded and bloomed and was amazed at the speed of it.  I know when it's a full moon and a new moon.  The stars look different.  My body knows too.  Away from the the light pollution of the city, it's found it's natural rhythm again.  It cycles with the moon.  Geese and ducks appear with the winter and leave with the spring when the sparrows, scissor tails, and wood peckers return.  Spiders and wasps have also come with a vengeance and soon I expect the butterflys and dragonflys.  The wind is fierce enough to threaten the tomato plants. 

I feel connected to the earth like I never have before.  Not in a worshipful kind of way, but an appreciative one.  It makes me that much more determined to work WITH it in sustaining my family than dominating and eviscerating it.  God made us this world, and I've missed so much of it.  I have a lot of catching up to do.