Abundant Blessings…Hands To Work

Over the weekend we talked about how we limit the exposure to things outside our homestead, both for the homestead itself, as well as for our family.  We all agreed that even with the talk from folks who say you can’t live in a cave or live so secluded that you don’t have some form of exposure to what is out and about in the world today, as a parent today striving to raise Godly children into Godly adults, you almost have to do some limiting in your daily lives.

Take, for example, television.  There is virtually nothing of any redeeming value to be found on television.  Even with some satellite dish full of a zillion channels, nothing stands out as worthwhile when you truly proof it against what is important in your life.  We have found a few nature shows to be a good watch, and a few other programs scattered here and there, but for the most part, it’s simply a useless box.  We have had cable, we have had satellite and now we have pretty much nothing…once in a while we get the PBS station in, but that’s all that tunes in with the television way out here.

Radio, would be another example.  We listen to little there, although I do enjoy picking up hints here and there from Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace show.  And we have listened to a few good Christian stations, but they tend to get farther into CCM, which we prefer not to make a habit of listening to.  And the ads that bombard us form every station, Christian and other, are not worth the time.  It’s as bad as television commercials.

We limit what reading materials come onto the homestead, and from there it is limited in access to our children.  They are simply too young to discern value and true worth, but they are growing in that respect.  We steer clear from fiction more often than not and prefer to gain our information through biography accounts and articles.  Yes, you can find anything to back up your personal point of view, but if you source out materials and collect varying viewpoints, the truth is often very easily to find then.  That is what we teach our children to do…never follow one person’s viewpoint but try to find others with honest sharings, and especially go directly to the source themselves…a biography (not even the so-called ‘authorized biographies’ tell the whole truth as much as the writings of the person themselves will).

We limit the seeds used in our gardening efforts to only non-hybrid and heirloom.  We have hopes to do this with any feed crops we might plant in the future as well.  For us, it simply makes sense to keep it basic and simple here as that is what we strive for…we want to save our seeds and keep our homestead going without so much outside sourcing of materials and supplies.  And we like to know what went into the items we are using for feed…for ourselves and our animals, who will one day be feed themselves.

We limit the outside activities a great deal around here.  The men are off the homestead for work and have enough outside influences bombing their face and faith daily.  The children and I are more than content to do what we need to here, and often don’t need to go into town for much at all.  We try to make a trip every other week at the least, to do our mailing (rural postal service around here is, well, lacking, to be kind…sometimes mail never makes it where it’s heading).  When we do grocery shop it’s a ‘date night’ for DH and I usually and we might stop for a bite to eat or a treat.  A trip through any store with the children along is also an outing (and you can imagine the stares and head-counting we get with that!)  and we use these trips to teach the children different things…the girls learn about grocery shopping more from our bulk purchases more than from shopping trips; they learn about fabric selection and sewing ideas and tips when we shop for fabric, etc.  There are lessons everywhere.  Some lessons we prefer to avoid…like parading the dress fashion of the world at large before the eyes of the younger children, the video and music selections cursing our ears in some stores, the feast of gluttony in many areas of life as we wander through this store or that.

It is for their lives that we choose to ‘shelter’ and ‘limit’ life around us.   We are not moving backwards in time as some think.  We are not raising children without any knowledge of the world around them.  We are raising children who will one day help to change the world they live in for the better we pray, and children who will be strong and convicted in their own faith to one day stand against all that comes in opposition toward them.  That is what soldiers of The Lord do…they stand strong, never changing, never breaking in the winds around them.  Some people can’t do that or won’t do that.  They choose to call it ‘bending’ when it is really just breaking.  They change as the winds do, ever following a false path, never relying completely on The Scriptures and The Father to walk them straight and narrow.  They prefer the broad path and that is leading them as sheep to a cliff, one walking over after the other.  I want The Lord to lead my children in His Path and keep them on the narrow way that isn’t leading them over that cliff with those who lack strength and true wisdom and conviction.