Welcome to another week. It’s getting cooler. Autumn will soon be upon us and we’ve celebrated a full year at #Itsnotta Farm! Our second “harvest season” will begin in the surrounding fields and the dust will fly again! We’ll fight with the youngest to make the school bus and enjoy the front porch with warm drinks. We’ve done little, or so it seems, to upgrade or change the property. Sure, we dug some in the gardens and added a few creatures. The pool is no longer green, and you can now count the fish in the pond. However, the walls are the same colour, I still have boxes to unpack. So much junk is still in the barn… but this weekend was a milestone in the “move in process”. We changed the light above our dining room table! The previous light was awful. It was huge and modern looking with spokes and numerous yellow-tinted light bulbs. It looked like a Covid molecule and I hated it from the moment we walked in. I ordered a farm-style inspired chandelier from Amazon the week we moved. It sat in the box in the closet for almost a year.

I pulled it out of the closet and it sat on the table for another two weeks. We pondered it and perused the very vague instructions with good intentions. Hurray! Finally! This weekend, with the help of capable friends, we climbed the chairs and gathered the hanging chain. Screwed in the bright white light bulbs and voila! Done. I am so happy with it. I have no idea where the thought process was for the other monstrosity came from… brightening the room to sell? The yellow tinge was not the answer. My bright whites are just as nice. And fits the farmhouse. Still… who am I to account for someone else’s style choices?

Change. Little changes, big changes. Change is a constant in our world… we can’t avoid it as time never seems to stop. Insignificant changes like dining room lights. Big choices like moving to the country or marrying the person of your dreams. Careers. Health diagnoses. Treatment choices for things you wish you didn’t need to make choices about. Choices that make you smile. Like getting chickens and watching them run when you call them. I think God gives us choices to keep us active and vibrant. To keep us thinking and growing and adapting and smiling. Change and choices.

This past Sunday, we were reminded of Matthew 14’s story of Jesus walking on water and asking Peter to come to Him on the waves. Peter had a choice to make… did he trust the “ghost figure” before him and step out of the rocking boat? Or stay where it was “safe”? I think if you have a true encounter with God, your choice is easy. You step out of the boat. You take the risk and move out of your comfort zone into a tumultuous sea and walk above the waves. Meeting the Creator of the Universe gives you the confidence to do this. It’s when we haven’t truly met with Him where choices are hard. Or you’ve asked and prayed and pleaded and you haven’t heard what you wanted to hear.

Maybe God doesn’t care about what kind of light we hang in the kitchen. Still, I think He is interested in making us happy. And challenging us to ruffle feathers and step our of our little comfort zones once and awhile to truly grow us and grow His kingdom. Change is hard sometimes. They say that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. It at least shapes us a little different when we reach the other side. And He’s there on the water’s edge offering us a helping hand. So, how ’bout it, my friends… are you stepping out of the boat this week? I’m gonna try. I might even tackle hanging some pictures.