Abundant Providence

 I was outside, doing an activity that probably a lot of people would consider barbaric. I was washing out my poop bucket. ;) There is no plumbing inside my house, so while I do have a toilet that I made myself and it works very nicely, the thing that receives the excreta is a bucket with a lid. I take it out and put it on the compost pile.

Anyway, I was there after rinsing out the bucket and setting it out to dry in the sun, and there were huge butterflies everywhere. At least two giant swallowtails that I saw, and some Gulf Fritillarys which are beautiful big orange butterflies. One giant swallowtail hovered right over me, and it was like looking up through a stained glass window. It was a flying stained glass window, not just flying but fluttering so delicately, like a flag in the wind.

How can you look at such a thing and not believe in G-d?

And I knew that at that moment 90 miles away, thousands of people were fighting Dallas traffic through a man-made landscape with no butterflies. No shy snakes. No sweet country smell in the air. No steampunk-looking grasshoppers, looking like they were made of bronze. No Snow-on-the-Prairie. No fish. No sunflowers. None of the little blue flowers that the butterflies love so much and which last so long in the summer heat that they can feed on them all summer long. No guardian spiders like I have over my front steps lol. None of the little red-striped Phidippus jumping spiders who eye me so warily with their many eyes.

And I praised G-d for his abundant grace to his wretched servant. This is HIS land: I am just graced to live on it. Praise his holy Name, for He is truly good.

Now I do live a life free of many of the luxuries, so-called necessities, of modern life. No flush toilet. I do dishes in a wash tub and have to haul water for that and for baths. No washer dryer. No dishwasher. The nearest restaurant and the nearest convenience store are both about 10 miles away. Nearest hospital is 20 miles away. Most of my food aside from what I grow are things that are dry-storable. I drink canned condensed milk in my coffee.

But I would rather haul a hundred gallons of water in buckets in this blessed place, HIS land, than spend 10 minutes in Dallas traffic.

Praise His Name, for He is GOOD. <3

Giant Swallowtail

Gulf Fritillary

Snow-on-the-Prairie

It's not my land, it's G-d's land. I just live here.