A Sanctuary

Its late tonight.  I guess it's in the peace and quiet of my home that things come to me.  The world is sleeping.  My babies tucked in their beds.  My husband asleep as well.  My time.  My thoughts uninterrupted.  I can close my eyes and enjoy my own little sanctuary.  Time with my God, my favorite colors, my favorite things...time to be me.  Life is sweet, it is peaceful.  The music low.  Focusing on what gives me joy....surrounding myself with bits of tangible perfection:
 

  Lilacs in a canning jar brought by a friend.  Splashes of color on my walls. Homemade bread on the cupboard.  Beautiful brown, cream and green eggs in their basket.  New homeschool curriculum tucked away for this fall.  My garden.  Sweet peas lifting their arms to the sun. The color green.  Holstein grass calves lazily meandering thru the pasture.  Quail in the wood pile singing.  The late evening sun shining thru windows in the barn.  Sunbeams thru the dust. The scent of sweet hay covering the barn floor.   Children running barefoot awaiting raspberries on the vine.  Over-alls, tractors and straw hats.  The sweet juicy flavor of a home grown bright red strawberry.  The breeze thru the cottonwood tree.  Continuous "clicking" of sprinklers.  Crickets.  Night sounds of the frogs in the pond.  Distant wail of the coyotes at night. 

  I have been awhile surrounded by these things.  For that I am thankful.  It has only been recently however that God brought this to my attention.  He's given me my own sanctuary where I can enjoy life and I've only recently realized what I had.  A sanctuary where I can get away from the world. 
  When I moved here I didn't like it.  I prayed two years for contentment.  I've always been a country girl...living on a farm wasn't the issue.  I struggled with the lack of trees...the heat in the summer...the naked feeling of flat land.  I missed the mountains of my childhood.  I missed snow.  The first two years living here I had so many things to be thankful for...right in full view.  I didn't see them, didn't embrace them.  God was handing me beauty on a platter and I was too blind to see it.
  I sit in my quiet sanctuary tonight, thankful.  Thankful for this little farm.  The heat in the summer makes for good gardens.  The flat contour of this valley makes farming possible.  Trees...well, I do have a couple of those and I LOVE them.  I will always love trees.  But more than anything I thank God for the contentment He's given me here.  He freely gives contentment to those who ask.   He's placed me here...and surrounded me with His creations.   There is beauty EVERYWHERE......I guess having the eyes to see it...that's the issue.