HEELCATCHER

I grew up in the country. I probably didn’t realize how “country” it was until later in life.

We had seven acres of land. A large pasture with woods in the back along with a spring-fed pond. We raised cows…chickens…and rabbits…and ate lots of good beef, fresh eggs, and fried rabbit (which tastes a lot like chicken by the way).

Summer days were often filled with exploring nature…feeding flies to spiders…feeding ants to ant lions…building tunnels in the steep sand banks of the pond…hanging out in the treehouse…and having cow patty fights with friends.

I think that qualifies as country.

We knew everyone in our small town. I sat between the same two people all the way through elementary school. Edwards…Foster…Freeman.

Fridays nights were high school football nights. Sunday mornings were church days…along with Sunday nights and Wednesday nights.

Whenever I come back home, I realize the simplicity of growing up in a small town. We didn’t have a lot but we also didn’t know we were missing out on anything. We traveled up to the big city of Jacksonville every once in awhile. I remember when the town closest to us (Orange Park) actually got a mall. But I still found my greatest joy and contentment at home…enjoying time with my family…exploring the backyard…hanging out with friends.

Now here I am forty years later. Sitting in my parents’ house…walking the same country roads…reflecting on life.

Many things have changed…but many things have remained the same.

I have lived in cities from New Orleans to Dallas to the New York City corridor of central New Jersey yet there is something unique about living in the country…something to be learned.

Here are five New Year’s lessons you can learn from the country:

Slow down!

Your quality of life is not increased by increasing your pace.

Somehow we have accepted the notion that a faster life is a better life. Squeeze more stuff in. Run. Run. Run. Get everywhere quicker. Pack your life with activities. Do more. Get more. Go more. It is almost as if we want to stay moving so that we don’t have to stop and think about the emptiness of what we have…of who we are…of what we are becoming.

The country teaches you to slow down…to notice more around you…and to get used to being stuck behind a tractor on a two-lane road.

Make the most of what you have.

My parents do not waste anything. Everything is recycled. They were “green” before green was cool. My dad made a fence out of discarded pipe…a shed out of old shipping pallets…a greenhouse out of the plastic wrapped around his new mattress. He waters his plants with rainwater. He fertilizes with coffee grounds. He even used to carefully cut open and fold up the wrapping paper on his Christmas gifts and ask my mom to save it for next year…though my mom would usually throw it away when he wasn’t looking.

When you are in the country, everything has value. You don’t worry about what you don’t have but instead you make the most of what you do have. In a disposable society…where even relationships and people are too easily discarded…that is a good lesson to learn.

Know how to survive.

Hank Williams Jr. wasn’t lying…a country boy does know how to survive. If our economic infrastructure were to completely collapse, I would want to move back to the country. My parents know how to survive. My dad can grow his own food…catch his own food…kill his own food. He has a pond with a spring…a well with his own water. He lives simply. He knows his land. And he has a shotgun…actually several shotguns. It’s ironic that the people who are often looked down on are probably the only ones who would survive in a disaster…and the ones who would probably rescue a few people along the way.

So don’t worry about your circumstances…or about what people think…just keep moving forward…finding a way to survive…and helping others who don’t know any better.

Make family a priority.

When I come home, I am reminded of the importance of family. My parents are still going strong…celebrating over sixty years of marriage. My brothers and sisters still get together for family events. The house is packed. Laughter is everywhere.

We have our issues. As a family grows…as the generations increase…there are differences that emerge. Different opinions…different politics…different perspectives on life. But something keeps bringing us all together.

Blood is thicker than water.

The crowded city often contains the loneliest people. The faster you go…the further you go…the more often you leave your relationships behind…and the more often you feel an inner longing for home.

Don’t ignore that longing. It is a reminder that life is too short to shortchange your relationships.

Remember that God is God.

There is something about living in the “big city”…climbing the academic ladder…the economic ladder…the social ladder…that has a way of feeding your pride. You have a tendency to feel more advanced…more educated…more superior.

The elitist mentality grows in the city not the country.

And with elitism comes the sense that you no longer need God. God is for “simpler people”…for those who don’t know any better…for those who haven’t learned science yet.

But elitism is an illusion. No person is better than any other. No person has life all figured out. No person has death conquered. No person has control over the universe.

A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you. (C. S. Lewis)

Perhaps it is the simpler life…the life more connected to nature…more connected to family…more connected to a church community…that enables a person to see their dependency on God.

Things aren’t perfect in the country. The sins of the human heart live both in the city and on the farm. But when you need a little perspective, take a trip into the country and remember that…

Every thing you have is a gift.

Nothing should be taken for granted.

Life is worth living.

Relationships are worth treasuring.

God is worth worshiping.

Pride is a lie.

Humility is a virtue.

Thanksgiving is a must.

And even when everything around you stinks, you can still choose to have a cow patty fight.

Many of our battles are won or lost in the first two hours of our day.

How we begin the day often defines how our day will go.

What we run to first often indicates what we value the most.

In his article, Starting Your Day on the Internet Is Damaging Your Brain, Srinivas Rao states:

The first three hours of your day can dictate how your life turns out. And this often begins with the very first thing that you decide to put in your brain. You can either start your day with junk food for the brain (the internet, distracting apps, etc.) or you can start the day with healthy food for the brain (reading, meditation, journaling, exercising, etc.). When you start the day with junk food for the brain, you put yourself at a self imposed handicap that inhibits your ability to get into the flow and prevents you from doing deep work. When you start the day with health food for your brain, the exact opposite happens.

Rao puts the emphasis on the first three hours of your day. I will go with the first two. You could possibly even lower that to the first thirty minutes or hour of your day depending on your work schedule and circumstances. And busy moms may be glad to take control of the first 3 minutes of their day!

But what captures your attention the moment you begin your day often defines your day. It is like hitting a golf ball. The moment of impact determines the trajectory of the golf ball. A small variance of the club head…or a slightly irregular swing path…will be increasingly manifested as the ball takes flight.

Learning expert Jim Kwik notes:

When you wake up you’re in this theta alpha state and you’re highly suggestible. With every like, comment, or share, you get this dopamine fix and it’s literally rewiring your brain. What your smart device is doing especially if that’s the first thing you grab when you wake up…is rewiring your brain to be distracted.

And Kare Anderson, in her article, What Captures Your Attention Controls Your Life, states:

We often fail to realize how what we focus on comes to control our thoughts, our actions, and indeed, our very lives. Whatever we focus upon actually wires our neurons.

In other words, every morning we are training our brain. We are wiring ourselves either to pursue endless distractions or focused attention. We are setting our minds on what is trivial or on what is crucial.

I learned this in my own life.

A year ago, I found myself burnt out…overwhelmed…stressed…distracted. My mind seemed to be going a thousand miles an hour and couldn’t seem to find the brakes…or a break.

I took a 3-week “monk retreat.” No phone. No internet. No TV. No emails. No texts. No distractions.

I began each day reading and meditating on Scripture, going on a prayer walk, exercising, and journaling.

It decluttered my brain.

Maybe even detoxed it…from the endless barrage of daily distractions that can bombard my eyes, beckon for my attention, and bind my mind.

From that point on, I made a commitment to give the first two hours of my day to exercising, walking, reading, meditating, and praying. No running to the smartphone to check emails. No turning on the TV to watch SportsCenter. No checking Facebook to see all the latest posts. No picking up the newspaper to read about all the political controversies, world tragedies, or entertainment enticements of the day.

No early morning junk food for the brain…or the soul.

Have I always succeeded.

Nope.

Life happens…and some days you find yourself with an unexpected morning interruption…or sleeping in…or checking for an important message…or enjoying a vacation…or just reverting to old habits.

But overall my morning routine has become my new normal.

An early morning prayer walk.

Exercise.

A time of reading and meditating on God’s Word.

Drinking a fruit smoothie.

Sitting and breathing in quietness.

David knew the importance of giving his mornings to God.

My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord;
In the morning I will direct it to You,
And I will look up. (Psalm 5:3)

So did Jesus.

In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there. (Mark 1:35)

That doesn’t mean that there are not other important hours in the day. Obviously every hour has its own importance. And ending your day well (without long hours of screen time or late night distractions) may be the real key to starting the next day well.

But giving the “firstfruit” of your day to the Lord seems to yield the greatest harvest…and to set your focus right for the rest of the day.

O Lord…
Satisfy us in the morning with Your faithful love
So that we may shout with joy and be glad all our days! (Psalm 90:14)