Simple thoughts on country roads..

I've always loved country roads - those quaint little tracks spread all over the world.  Before we had children we used to spend hours just following country roads - just seeing where they went.  The twisting & turning tracks  leading to some little unknown treasure - a small farmyard, well loved by someone, somewhere... hearts coming home to it's warmth ;  a peaceful, shaded gurgling brook - laughing it's way from somewhere to somewhere, making the perfect setting for a picnic lunch; an old graveyard - full of headstones from last century - leaves you wondering what their legacy was - why they died, what family they left behind; Sometimes  you come across a lookout on the edge of a mountain- making you feel like you're on top of the world - you can see for thousands of kilometres - you can't help but realise how very awesome our Creator really is - and how insignificant you really are!

Whatever we'd find it was always fun to have gone - to take the plunge & turn down the road off the busy highway - to see what little treasure lies along it.  I have fond memories of picnics in far off places, by beautiful creeks and in parks of tiny unheard of  towns!  Of roads that end up as tracks, that end up as paths of little more than bush between two fences.  Of getting lost & having to knock at a farmhouse door and ask directions!

Whenever I see a country road, I always wonder where it goes, who lives on it - what their story is.  I love to daydream about life in the little farmhouses dotted all over the country - come dark those little specks of light you see going out from the side of the road.  Who lives there - what is their story - what do they do?  

I remember as a girl spending long trips lingering in thoughts of farm life with cottages and pastures speckled with wildflower sustaining the friendly animals  (because when you daydream it's always spring!) Gardens full of flowers and food - chickens clucking happily by my side as I work in my dainty straw hat - flowers filling my hands and apron, long skirt brushing the green grass as I bend to sniff a beautiful rose - the scent seemed to come through my dreams!  

It's hard to believe that we now live in one of those farmhouse dots off the edge of the road, that we can breathe the fresh, pure country air.  I know our story - and it's not a fairy tale - the farm isn't idyllic and the garden ( that which grows) takes a whole lot more work than I ever thought, but still - I wouldn't change it, I love living here, I know what a blessing it is - the cow bellowing outside the window at 4am, the long hours of tractor work to try & get some kind of crop, the harsh sun that kills everything in it's path that hasn't been watered with the little water that's around during those long, hot drought years. Life is a blessing, it really  is a gift from the Lord - even hardships hold a lesson for us to learn.  

I don't know what my life will hold in the future, where I will be in 10 years, what will fill my seconds, minutes, days, weeks , years ahead.  I would love to think of being here at Sunnyside into retirement, visited by grandchildren and even great-grandchildren, but I have no idea .  I do however know that I can trust the One who does know - that His plans for my life are much better than my own.  After all he put the country dirt  inside this country girl right from the beginning - He bought me out here far away from family to our own little farm & gave me more than I could ever dream of.  He is teaching me & moulding me through each step of my life &  I know that He will guide me as I continue to live for Him!

Isn't it great to be able to rely on the Lord - isn't it wonderful to give Him our dreams and trust that He knows what is best for us?

Joining Jenn for 

(Sorry I haven't been around much this last week - we've had troubles with our internet - grrr... fixed now though (I hope))!

Have a wonderful, blessed day