What is this business about 'really living'?

Here I sit…the sun on my shoulder.  Thoughts rolling around in my head.  I’ve got my water bottle next to my adirondack, just finished a salted caramel with my hand-crafted latte from my sweetheart.  The breeze is blowing out my shower fresh hair, and my thoughts keep getting interrupted by the sound of the birds having a lively discussion around me.  My grandson, Oakley the Little Person, is chewing happily on his bone.  He’s a French Bulldog in case you were worried that he was a little human…  

As I look around, feel the breeze, and give a listen to the sounds of the world around me, I’m convinced….  I’m really living.  I remember a book that my father read to me as a child, Adventures in Contentment by David Grayson.  His narrative walked through the joys of daily living.  The meeting of a neighbor down the road for an enjoyable chat, the beauty of the fog on the fields beyond the garden fence…  I love the sentiment.  However, when we’re asked to live out those days that are common place, am I ‘really living’?  

Nothing of my position in life would make the world jealous.  I’m not packing my bags for a three-week cruise in the Mediterranean.  There isn’t a Maserati parked in the garage, nor a  hired gardener in my gardens.  I’m not the CEO of a large company…though I would argue the point that my little farm and all it’s inhabitants keep me going at a pretty quick pace with me needing to be in peak management performance.  

In fact, this morning, as I was gathering the eggs, I found one egg was tossed out of the nest and broken.  As I was cleaning that up, I heard the hen that is completely delusional scratching around on top of the nest box to lay her egg.  Yep, she’s one of those ‘nonconformists’.  The age-old nest box just doesn’t put her in the right mood, I suppose.  On top is where it’s at, and each day I go in, I have to look for this ‘misplaced’ egg from a self-righteous hen.  That sounds about right, doesn’t it?  Did I mention that I came outside at 2 am to hear my rooster crowing?  Really?

But, I digress...  

My life is that simple life with normal bills, nothing too super exciting, and laundry to do.  But I have to say, isn’t strong faith for those normal, every-day days?  Living in the now on regular days is not the exciting part.  It is, however, where most of life happens.  Holding fast to who God is, that He loves me, that I represent Him…  All these ordinary days count.  They’re the days when we put those faith deposits into the ‘spiritual accounts’ so that on that one major day when our faith is tested, we can make a giant withdrawal from our spiritual account and ‘stay in the black’.      

So, as my thoughts bubble to the top, all I can think is, “I love this.”  This is the ‘really living’ part!  I sit here at peace, the Lord and I having a wonderful conversation about my family who I love beyond measure.  I stand with faith for this, and in this ordinary day.  I’ve actually arrived.  Right in the middle of a Thursday…  My future is secure because I know the One who cares for me.  My present is peaceful.  My heart is content with ‘my little world’, and I really think this is ‘really living’.