abundance

On one level this can seem common sense. And if you're shaking your head and thinking, "welcome to the planet, Becca." then just hear me out. The conversation of abundance is probably the most frequent conversation Rory and I have since we moved to the country. We knew this stuff before on some level, but to see it with our own eyes, is actually blowing our minds.

When we first tapped our trees for maple syrup we couldn't believe how much goodness was flowing through each tree. And yes, it was a bumper year, but this happens every spring no matter what. The snow thaws and the sap begins to flow. The trees begin to grow new life and inside every maple (and silver maple, red maple, even boxelder!) tree there are gallons of sap to be tapped.

When we plant one tiny piece of corn, a strong stalk grows that supports two or three ears with hundreds of little kernels that could be planted again. We have trees that rain down walnuts and blackberries that grow thick in our woods. There is firewood for our lifetime in our woods and eggs popping out of our chickens.

We tried to save as many seeds as we could from our garden this year and were wide eyed while digging through the "dead" sweet peas to find the dried out pods and gather the little peas that would each grow into new plants yielding hundreds of pods next year, all summer long.

I know this is elementary. But it is also wondrous. That our world is set up for abundance. That there is enough. That everything is created to reproduce and multiply. That in the natural world we always end up with more than what there was at the start.

I suppose we could go political at this point, but let's not.

There is a Creator to this beauty. And his presence is just so obvious when we're digging in the dirt. There is a joy and contentment that is deep and true. The afternoon my mom showed me how to collect my zennia and cosmos seeds my heart was full and grateful. What a wonderful world. What fun. See what great love the father has lavished upon us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

That's how I feel when I'm out digging around, peeling walnuts to be dried, tapping into trees for syrup, eating tomatoes like candy, gathering flowers to bring inside. I feel lavished upon in this world full of abundance.