Contribute Today

In the book The Art of Possibility by Rosamund and Benjamin Zander, I liked the following -

"Unlike success and failure, contribution has no other side.  It is not arrived at by 

comparison.  All at once I found that the fearful question, 'Is it enough?' and the even more fearful question, 'Am I loved for who I am,or for what I have accomplished?' could both

be replaced by the joyful question,

'How will I be a contribution today?'

In the game of contribution you wake up each day and bask in the notion that you are a gift to others."

In our little world, our family strives to operate on this plane of thinking.  Some days we accomplish this better than others.  Right now our business has slowed way down and we wonder if we can continue living this way of life or if the slow times are to instead focus on where we can contribute today.  Once I let go of the fear, I actually enjoy the challenge and it helps to ground me and helps me to focus on many of the original skills we intended to apply on a daily basis when choosing this more hand made life.

Spending more time cooking and baking. 

I am realizing how when business gets busy I slack and start relying more on purchased foods. 

Over the past week I have made two pumpkin pies, one apple pie, butternut squash soup, vegetable barley soup and so much more using mostly our own harvest.  

Instead of putting a too large in the waist pair of pants in the give-away bag, I sewed them to fit Sarah.

We are planning handmade gifts for everyone and have started many of them.

We are reading aloud to the children, playing cribbage, war, and other games.

We are painting, needle felting, knitting, and sewing.

We are working on a new chicken coop - one we can stand up in! Using rough cut lumber that was given to us.

We are connecting.

The challenge is that when our business picks up once again, we cannot let down our resolve to be conscious of our every action.  To consider every thing we purchase and to really think through what can be done with our own hands and on our own small homestead and to not get greedy with our business but to keep it in check so that we can contribute in the ways that our family finds meaning.