The Simple Life

The simple life….when life has us running around like crazy, driving in rush hour traffic (or any time of day traffic around these parts), and chaotically trying to make it to all events and occasions imaginable, getting back to the simple life is such a breather. My family is on our way to the mountains for a family vacation. As we make the adventurous long road trip, we decided to take a pit stop at my  mom’s house in northern Mississippi. Y’all, I am a Mississippi girl thru and thru..Mississippi girl living in Louisiana.

Sweet tea lovin’, mustard green eatin’, and running around barefoot country girl I am. Me and the country just love each other…I have the fondest memories of climbing trees and catching as many lightening bugs as I could manage into an old glass pickle jar. Then I had to grow up, go off to college, get married and have kids. This life of course is better than I could have ever planned for my self, thankfully His plan is always better than our own! I go through each day, blessed beyond belief. Kids busy in all sorts of activities, and I happily follow through each and every activity, every day. Then I get to a point where I crave for the simple things.

I crave for the chance to sit back and drink a glass of sweet tea while watching my kids run around like the kids they are meant to be. Don’t get me wrong here…I can do these things at home, in my cookie cutter neighborhood. I can do these things with great joy from a patio chair or from the windows that look over our fenced in backyard. There is something about getting away from this fenced in yard and stretching out in the open land. A place where you can acknowledge the beauty of all things God created in its untouched state with no interruptions. This here is that part of a country girl that you can’t ever take away, no matter how long she lives in the confines of a busy town or city.

So here we are, visiting in Mississippi. The country part of Mississippi to be exact. As I begin to feel giddy inside about the time I can spend with family, the land in itself is just as happy to greet us.  The kids are running around a yard that isn’t fenced in, surrounded by corn fields and wooded areas that give the land somewhat of a boundary that we normally only see from the car. As the sun starts to fade from the horizon, I look over at my daughter to see her face lite up as if she saw Santa Claus or even a magical unicorn. She runs under a tree and begins to clap her hands to grasp something in front of her. Curious to what has caught this sweet girl’s attention, I watch her intently. Lighting bugs…..

Lightening bugs are beginning to surround us with their luminescence. These simple little insects can put on the most amazing light show. As Ryleigh continues to chase them, I quickly run a glass pickle jar to her. I feel as if I have just taken a quick train ride back in time to when I was doing the exact same thing…chasing after the glowing bugs and keeping them just for the night to have them put on one last show before I close my eyes for bed. Ryleigh quickly grabs the jar and is dashing around in circles, making a point to not accidentally skip over one lightening bug. Her jar reached it’s maximum capacity in the matter of seconds.

Those lightening bugs went EVERYWHERE Ryleigh went…she even attempted to sleep with them, sweet girl. As I laid down from the day before, I looked back over all that had happened during the day. I realized how good it all felt to be ‘free’ from the confines of everyday things. Being able to see my daughter’s face, a face of pure joy from the simplest thing-a lightening bug, is something that brought joy to my own heart. Taking this time to truly be in awe of all that God created in it’s truest form and being reminded of how amazing He is. I know tomorrow will come soon enough. I will have to say goodbye to this life of simplicity, but it was time well spent. For it will carry me through the rest of the busy year until I can meet it again.

Mississippi girl, country girl, or even the girl who has lived in the confines of the busy city life, getting a chance to step away to a life of simplicity is oh so good for the heart. Whatever your ‘simple’ life may be, find time to visit. You and your child will be blessed each and every time.

Oh ye simple, understand wisdom: and ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart. Proverbs 8:5

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so people are without excuse. Romans 1:20