Shrinking...

But godliness with contentment is great gain.  For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.  (Timothy 6:6-7 TNIV)

Life around our little farm/ranch is shrinking.  This past weekend, we shipped the goats off to the auction.  We brought home two hermit crabs from Florida a month ago...one just bit the dust.  That's no big surprise.  As soon as we brought Hank the Tank II home, they got shoved to the side. 

My scenic backyard, or the one I had visions of dancing in my head, is shrinking.  It is now full of stuff: a beautiful barn, lots of gravel, a pool, a huge round pen with a little shed.  I can no longer look out my backdoor and see the pond and that spot I wanted a gazebo...for us to relax in and hang out.  Oh, wait, we don't do that.  We have small children and race horses and church commitments and work and fun to seek. We do have less yard to mow however...

The big pond behind our house is shrinking.  With no good steady rainfall this summer, it just keeps getting smaller and smaller. In fact, the cows get out by walking around the fence where it's real shallow or completely dry.  My plants (the ones that survived) are starting to die, shrivel up, fall apart. Boo-hoo.  My closets are shrinking.  They have to be.  There is no place to put stuff.  The drawers on our dressers and in my kitchen seem to be getting smaller too.  And what about the couch?  I can remember when both kids and I could lay on it together and snuggle up while watching a movie.  We no longer fit...it has to be the couch, right?!

The free time we have is shrinking.  I know that is just part of life, and I'm not sure it's a bad thing.  As my kids get older, they are becoming more involved with activities.  As I get older, I become more involved in activities.  It's not that I don't have as much time, it's that I am using it differently than before.  Lots of things are shrinking before my eyes...my life span, my attention span, my waistline (at least this week, yeah!).  I could go on and on... Soon my height will go and then the number of hairs on my head.

Although we often times believe it is true, bigger isn't always better.  A bigger deluxe half-pound cheeseburger may taste yummy and delicious, but it will wear off quickly and then you will not feel so good...Ugh.  A bigger house means a larger mortgage, lots of furnishings, higher utilities, more space to clean.  A larger vehicle for me would mean more room for the the kids to store their stuff and the more I could carry around 'just in case.'  A big promotion brings a lot of responsibilities and headaches.  You get the picture.

Everywhere you go people want something more, something bigger, the newest version of this or that.  My daughter thinks she needs the I-pod Generation-whatever-number-they're-up-to-now.  She already has the I-pod Generation-whatever-number-they-were-on-two-years-ago; is it really necessary?  I would like a newer vehicle...there's nothing major wrong with the one I have, but the newer stuff is so fancy-looking, oh, how I would love to have one myself. We, myself included, Christians included, let ourselves get so out of control with wanting more.  We have to let it go.  I have to let it go.  As noted above in 1 Timothy, we can't take it with us when we go.

In a world where we're told that bigger is better, I think I am okay with the shrinking going on around me...(except for the pond and rain problem, of course).  I'm still hopeful to some day have that big, beautiful, scenic backyard with a gazebo overlooking the pond, but it may not be here on earth...and that's okay.