Growing up I often heard the statement “mind over matter”. We become like the people we surround ourselves with and the thoughts we think. Life is about becoming more, not doing more, and that all starts with our thought life. Life leads you based on your most dominant thought. Our intention attracts what we want. Letting go of old thought patterns will allow that intention to become a reality, but it takes discipline to be intentional. This the real message behind the title “Preparing for Increase”.
We are attracted to words like increase, abundance and blessings. There is an underlying foundation of discipline that creates the environment for our intentions to develop. It all starts with our thought life and what we value. In 2001, my husband, son and I moved from Colorado back to the family farm. Joshua was a year and half old. We wanted our son to grow up being close to grandparents. My parents renovated the “Homeplace” for us so we could live there and be on the farm with our extended family. This home was where my grandparents started their life, farm and raised three children. Six months prior, my grandfather passed away leaving this special place empty. My little family lived there for 10 years before moving into a new home on the farm. It was a bittersweet feeling moving out of the “Homeplace”. The walls were full memories and a rich heritage which wrapped around me like a warm blanket.
Life on a family farm is rewarding, but it calls for great discipline in your thought life. There is always something to do to keep things going. Preparing the garden in the spring, raising chickens, repairing fences, feeding the animals and keeping the grounds maintained are just a few. These chores don’t wait for us to feel like doing them. It is “mind over matter” time.
It has been 16 years since we have moved back to the farm. Our son is now a senior in high school and preparing for college. We are now experiencing many wonderful blessings as we watch him begin to chart his own course. As parents, you don’t know if anything you are modeling or saying is sinking in with your child. Then, one day, your child sends you an email to containing a personal statement and essays to be submitted in college applications. You realize that increase comes in many forms.
Since we moved back to the family farm, there have been many times when our feelings are more in control of our actions than our thoughts. Discipline of our thought life prepares us for the increase. “As a man thinketh, so is he.” Proverbs 23:7. . . Until next Friday
