When I'm On The Same Page As Grace ....

" but whose delight is in the Lord---that person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither-- whatever they do prospers."   ... Psalm 1:2,3


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So Springtime (calendar-wise, anyway) was nearing and new listings for local houses began popping up online and yes, I began checking them out compulsively occasionally.  

One even-we-could-afford-this house enchanted me with these gorgeous windows and stairway wall:

... yet it's nearly in Canada (technically, so are we), had only 2 bedrooms, and moving there would lengthen Tom's commute to work by five miles so, well, uh, no. (But oh, it was snazzy.)

Another house had original, old-fashioned features (you know I love those) with two sun porches overlooking greenery and thick, quiet woods:

... and it has the lowest taxes in the tri-state area(!) Why? The house sits in Love Canal. Oh dear, but--even so-- for a day I wanted it badly. Hey, what's a few chemicals oozing out of the ground? At least we'd have 3 bedrooms with doors on each!  :)

Then down our street, an old ranch house with lots of brand-new features popped up:

And did I mention it has six closets? Six! 

I mean, here at Hobbit Cottage we have only 1 1/4 closets, the 1/4 one being in Tom's room (which, I'm not kidding, resembles a scene from Hoarders). That's all. One-and-a-quarter closets.

Oh, Debra had wild closet envy and, in my head, had us all moved into that ranch house. I even listed 10 ways that house is better suited to us. But gah. Tom just doesn't like that one. He's not sure why.

Well, there are more houses, more stories, but I'll spare you.

Then yesterday after Tom spent hours trying to find just the right house online and we drove past (read 'circled') one in Real Life, we both, sensing Grace had long ago left the building, decided to stop looking. And stay right here. Again. And just continue making improvements.

And you know? Immediately, creative ideas dropped into my brain. Like, instead of throwing our silverware willy-nilly in the skinny drawer (the 'real' silverware drawer is used for vitamins. I've tried for 4 years to think of a better place), why not buy silverware trays and place them in my shallow coupon/calendar/recipe binder drawer, instead? I'm currently not into coupons and I can put my calendar and binder elsewhere.

So I did that today and now feel like Olga Organized:

And upstairs I'd been storing Tom's briefcases and vintage suitcases in my closet and my things under the guest beds in Naomi's room. Why not switch so I could, anytime, easily access my own stuff? So I did that, also.

My, my, my--the contentment when we finally leave our own un-anointed bunny trails and jump back on Grace Street! 

Good gracious--it's like waking up from a boring, grey dream. Like remembering how colorful and terrific Life can be when we, instead, follow God and Grace to places we'd have never thought to go, alone.



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"Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you."

Choose contentment and wow... frustration fades away.


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Free Kindle Book (which I began yesterday and am enjoying) :


Dying to Read



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