WHY WE HOMESTEAD - CHAPTER 10 - THE EXPERIENCE
Life is made up of experiences.
This is the final chapter in my current series about we personally have chosen to homestead. It is provided to help others gain insight into our lifestyle, and the reasons that we choose to live this way.
CHAPTER 10 - THE EXPERIENCE
To wrap this all up, I ultimately have to mention that one of the main reasons that we homestead is the experience. Life is basically a series of events or experiences, and what you experience helps shape who you are. If I had not encountered the things that I have or realized the truth that I have, I’d still be a drunken, high, single man living for pleasure, if I were even still alive. I’d still be vulgar, profane, and self-centered, rather than being the considerate and loving husband and father that I’ve become.
At this point, I don’t really want to live out the experience of being in a “concrete jungle” or living in an apartment building. Of course everyone is free to choose and many may like the city life, and I’m definitely not trying to back anyone’s lifestyle. For me, apartment buildings just look like filing cabinets for people to live in, and I think it’s a far cry away from the way that we were designed to exist. I’d rather have a yard and an opportunity to grow a garden, or to be able to have animals that provide milk, meat or eggs, rather than just a goldfish bowl or designer dog. Don’t get me wrong, I like all sorts of different animals, I just find it worth contemplating that the only animals really “allowed” in many cities are the ones that can’t provide you with a food source, like milk, meat, or eggs. Personally, I think that’s done on purpose.
If we back up and contemplate things from a Biblical viewpoint, when the world was perfect it was a man with his wife and some animals out in a garden. Apparently God thinks that a good thing to grow in the garden is a family. Being surrounded by plants and animals is the way that I prefer to live my life, and I think it’s a great environment to raise a family in as well. To watch seeds grow into food-bearing plants and to see the next generation of livestock being born is such an amazing experience. It helps me to slow down and contemplate things, rather than living a fast-paced, distracted life on the hamster wheel of the rat race.
To have experiences in my life like picking a ripe grapefruit off of the tree in South Texas and enjoying it sun-warmed with the stem still on it is incredible to me. So many will never even taste a grapefruit during their lives, and many others will never see one with a stem still on it. I love being able to enjoy things like that, or to watch a tiny chick hatch under one of our hens. It’s a remarkable sight to behold!
The experience of splitting up the family early in the morning so that Mom and Dad can rush to work and the children can rush off to school is not how I want to start my day. If we arise together, spend time together, homeschool our children, and find home-based sources of income, a much different life will be experienced, and for us, it’s a preferable one. For everyone in the world, a certain amount of freedom to choose a lifestyle exists. Since we each only get one life here upon the earth, we would do good to consider our options. Much thought and consideration has gone into choosing this path for our family.
Ultimately, it’s a path of obedience in my mind. God says certain things in the Bible that I take seriously, and over time I’ve made the decision to agree with Him and with what He says. I’ve embraced the roles that He’s blessed me with, like being a husband and a father, and I intend to live my life in a way that follows His instruction in regard to these matters. I desire to teach and train my children, and to even trust Him with how many He chooses to entrust into our care. Again, this lifestyle and our goals are not ones that we would choose for ourselves, but God has done many things to prepare us for living this out, and we trust that His way is best. We don’t have to choose to agree with Him on these things, but we did. Since we did, homesteading seems to be that path to get to that destination, and our experiences in this life will be forever changed.
Until next time…
STEEMIT LIKE YOU MEAN IT!
It is indeed special to find oneself content with their life in all ways; some people never find that and seem to be searching all the time. Whether a person's life is simple or complex, the matter is whether or not one is truly happy.
Thank you for sharing.
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RESTEEMED. I love this series. It makes me happy to see you so happy 😆❤️🦋🌈🌴💛🍀
Thanks Kevin, for the inspiration and showing that there is another way other than what is considered "normal" Keep it up and may Yah bless you and your family!
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Your choice of living seems to me the best. I tell you, many are desiring to have a taste of homestead @papa-pepper
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