Greatest joys are found in simple things

Joy is found in simple moments if our eyes and our hearts are open.
Today, from the back porch of what will soon be our new home, I watched nine deer amble across the hay field, just about 75 yards from where I stood, only the white board fence separating us. With the noon sun overhead, the view across that open lawn and field was crisp and bright and breathtaking.
My sister, Debi, who has helped me endlessly through just about every major event in my life, has been right there with me through the work of making this house our home.
Turn back time. She has said that driving down the lane to our new place makes her feel that she has turned back time in a wonderful way. The peaceful farm and its beautiful setting reminds us of our childhood – there are dozens of trees to climb, a pond to skip stones across, barns to explore and play in, great places to walk and run and ride bikes.
It is so simple.
While the world searches for fulfillment in enormous ways, true joy and peace and tranquility is ultimately found in quiet gifts that sometimes fall right in to our unsuspecting laps.
Today, several of Cort’s buddies, who we haven’t seen for a while, joined us at the farm. Having been away at college, but now home on spring break, it was a great time for them to see where we will be hanging our hats.
“Wow, I could live here,” one of the guys said. “It makes me want to stay.”
It seems to be the unanimous feeling of those who have visited us while we work at setting up a farm and a home, and each time I drive down that lane, I fall in love with the place just a little bit more than I did the day before.
There is a feeling of great history there, a sense of lives well-lived long before our arrival. I could not begin to imagine the enormity of a move such as this until it was upon us, though I realize many people have been through it.
Just right. An older gentleman I’ve known for a long time asked me yesterday how things are coming with the impending move. He said, “Hon, I know it is a huge thing. When we sold our house and the ink was dry, I said to my wife, ‘I think this just might be the biggest mistake of our lives.’ The next day, I took one of our old chairs over to the new place and started doing some work on a wall. Somehow, just having that old chair in that new place, well, suddenly everything felt just right.”
I know exactly what Bob was talking about. Slowly, we lay claim to a new place, and slowly, it all begins to feel just right.