What a Life

When I was in high school, in 1968, I saw my first computer. It filled a room. Today I am sitting on my couch holding a computer, better than that one, on my lap. I can search any subject anywhere from my den. I can talk with people all over the world.

My father grew up on an east Tennessee farm using horses and mules to log and work the land. He never owned a tractor. I loved to listen to his stories about cutting hay and piling it on the big hay wagon, where it didn't always stay for the entire ride to the barn, and I used to enjoy his telling about the corn shucking where everyone gathered to get this immense job completed. They would tell stories and sing hymns and laugh. He showed me my first computer but he never owned one.

Life is so much easier physically these days, but at what cost? I grew up sitting on front porches drinking sweet tea dreaming of the future, never imagining what would become of the world I loved. Most of the quiet places I enjoyed are gone, bulldozed for houses and shopping centers, destroyed for all time for more people, more stuff, more ways to put ourselves in debt, to have the latest gadget, the most up to date techno goodies, to keep up with our friends and co-workers.

Sometimes I sit and watch my chickens and goats. Their only worries are when I bring the good food and fill the water containers and where are the newest tasty treats in the yard. I sit and relax and feel the rhythm of the real world, God's world, the world where sweet tea is a real treat after a long day of just doing. I watch my animals and see how they live just in the moment, regardless of wind, rain, weather, the stock market, and the price of gas and every day is good. When I was young, I was like the chickens and the goats, running, exploring, tasting the goodness of life. Where did it all go? And for what?

As I write, I watch the late afternoon sun hit the mountain. Most of the trees have lost their leaves and the shadows are long. I love the gentle colors of winter, the mauves and lavenders, the soft yellows caressing the leafless trees. If I did not have this computer on my lap I could not tell anyone about these beautiful things and how important they are to the human soul. I could not pass on how important these things are for that part of us that never dies but goes on and on for all time.