Barbi Martin is a Christian, conservative, and patriot. Raised in Southern California during the “Wonder Years”, I joined the Army and then became a vagabond for life. After living all over the states, I settled in (then beautiful) Portland, Oregon for 20 years. Married a wonderful Godly husband. Then God plucked us out of the city and put us in a safe place.
We retired to the mountains of Eastern Oregon. Raised 10 chickens, 7 cats, 4 dogs, and 3 ducks. A founding member of the Greater Idaho – Move Oregon’s Border movement, we expected to live in that paradise for the rest of our lives. Wonderful homestead in a beautiful state. The geography is stunning - God’s green acres, but the politics are evil and insane. We gave up everything for the opportunity to escape the Communist state of Oregon and move back to the Heartland. Starting over at this stage in life is hard. God, Guns, and the Constitution are priceless. No looking back.
I am looking out into the snowy night. Blizzard warnings and this is just the start of it now. One white yard blends into the other white yards. Snow drifts in our yards give a softly rolling landscape with white-covered roofs – like something out of a storybook or a scene from a Christmas tale. Remember the pictures of villages in Europe with homes nestled into the snowscapes?
An older couple has a fellowship dinner at their house. They have been married for over 50 years. She looks feeble and he looks tired and weathered. You have enjoyed getting to know them. They are really sweet people, but you don’t really give them credit for having done a lot in their lives because you don’t know much about them outside of what you see now.
I just saw my friend’s picture of his pumpkin pie and a glass pie dish with a rolled-up crust encasing layers of butter and cinnamon. Oh, my! How I used to love that stuff. The first time I ever saw anyone make that was when I met a woman whose husband was a long-distance trucker. She did babysitting in her home. She was actually able to make the house payment with her babysitting money. I met her because she sat for all of the women in our Bible Study. So, she didn’t have that many kids all the time, but she did take in groups. I have never seen a home with so many kids “visiting.” If you tell them they are visiting, they are more apt to enjoy their time.
You can just imagine what that meant to my life as a student, and you can imagine how my parents and my teachers felt about this obsession. I loved school and learning, but my best times and most precious thoughts always came while I was staring out a window. There are all sorts of windows, picture windows, kitchen windows, and bedroom windows. There are windows to our souls and windows to heaven. Sometimes it seems that the view from my home window is the place where I start to be aware of what is in my soul and my heart. It is as if I am looking at what is best through the glass and often to thoughts beyond just the physical. It draws me into conversations with my Lord.
Where did the wonder go? When did you notice that you had wonder? Was it when you were sitting on the grass under a tree? Was it when you looked up at the sky? What was it that captured your mind? When and why did you stop to smell the roses? When did we wonder and when did we lose it?