My life is ordinary and that's perfect. No really! It is. My days are spent homeschooling four little ones, building and sustaining a farm, running a business, washing the dishes, breaking up bickering children, kneading the bread. It's all the same, day in and day out.
As I look around at the messy corners, the unfolded laundry, or the dirty (sorry) toilet, I have to just sigh. Breathe in, breathe out, Shaye. You're doing your very best!
There are very few mountain-top moments in this life – we’ve had our babies, we’ve gotten married. Now we’re here. Facing daily life. And in these days, we don’t seek grand adventures. Maybe our passports won’t ever be filled, may our savings account won’t ever be bursting, maybe our lives will just be… ordinary.
Our potential – some may argue – never fully reached.
But maybe, just maybe, they’re wrong.
Maybe our very best potential as humans isn’t seeking the summits of these grand adventures at all – maybe it’s fully, and completely, and deeply rooted in recognizing that ordinary life – these small daily moments that we experience day in and day out – maybe these are the point.
To sense it all. To smell it all. To feel it all. To fully, and deeply, be willing to experience each tasks… word… challenge… moment, as if those were the exact point in all of this.
To see value in what the world says has none. To savor the deep details of that ordinary life.
It’s no small thing to faithfully live out your ordinary days with love and grace and purpose. It’s no small thing to see the deep valleys of blessing woven into our days.
They’ll tell you that life isn’t worth living unless you're chasing rainbows.
Maybe our ordinary lives are already the rainbows – and we just need the eyes willing to see them.
Maybe ordinary is perfect.
So profoundly beautiful and true—in this day and age, ordinary is extrordinary!!! I love my ordinary life of loving family members, 110 year old house, sweet dog and appreciating what is right here and now. Giving thanks for your vlog today—grateful for the sentiment of soulful living.
Mmmm. That’s the sound of me breathing deeply, and savoring this video and blog post. Shaye, your last few posts and videos have been your best.
Spent my 20s, 30s, and 40s, chasing those rainbows and finding the pot of gold hollow, empty. My precious time exchanged for faint memories, stuff in drawers, food consumed without thought. An inch deep and a mile wide as they say.
Found wisdom and kindred spirits, finally, in my 50s. Now, I’m truly living life, here with hubby, our old dogs, our sweet little home with the messy sweet gardens, eating home cooked, home grown food. Perfectly imperfect. Breathing deeply for the first time.
I agree. In my fifties I’ve downsized paid off my mortgage moved out of state. Brought my mom in to live. Work on an as needed basis as a RN. Life is now centers around gardening. Walking. Cooking. Savoring ordinary things. No grand trips or new cars. But a cat sleeping at our feet beside our rocking chair. To me this is more authentic living
“To see value in what the world says has none.” I dearly loved that and the video that I watched last night and this morning and now.
Keep fighting the good fight Shaye. Thanks for quietly being with me on this journey. I kinda wish you could make your old posts easier to find. I miss those posts from GA. ❤️☺️
This is such a wonderful message to share. I am recently discovering how to fall in love with the mundane all over again and have gotten comments on how I plan to make more money in the future, but life doesn’t have to be a rat race. Your homestead has me dreaming of my family’s life here soon (hopefully!).
Much love from California and Ohio!
I am a farm wife too, and I feel the same. It is ordinary but extraordinary!
So much YES!! This is beautiful. And what I’ve come to realize is that all the things that we’re supposed to chase after don’t provide nearly the same joy as learning to live Divinely aligned and at peace with who we are and what we have. Thank you.
I love this blog post. I’m an engineering student at a big university and for some reason people think that the only way to properly use your degree is to get a job at a big, name brand company. I want to work in the earth sciences and with nature and for some reason people look down on that. Thank you for reminding all of us there is no one metric of success!
Yes! I agree there is sacred in the ordinary. Being mindful of the magic all around us even in the most mundane of tasks is what it means to be human. But I don’t see chasing rainbows as an alternative, can’t we do both? Cherish our ordinary lives AND seek to learn from experiences outside it? There is value in the exploration, in the challenging of one’s comfort zone. This video is beautiful thank you for sharing it.
I’ve watched this video every day since it was posted. About 342 times in 6 weeks. Best one yet! And so, so true. We have had more enjoyment hunting cucumbers and picking tomatoes in our first garden this summer than many other ‘mountaintop moments.’ Think I’ll watch it again…
What you call ordinary, I call poetry. Thank you for sharing this with us. What beauty!
I’ve enjoyed every day as l wake up and thank you for all you and your family video. It’s a perfect .
I’ve enjoyed every day as l wake up and thank you for all you and your family video. It’s a perfect .