I Have A Country Heart

Fishtail Basin Ranch  Dean, MT

Oh how I miss the country!  My husband and I were both born and raised on ranches.  We’ve lived on ranches for almost all of our married years as well.

For the last six years we’ve been living in town, in an apartment, next to the railroad, next to an oil refinery, and the freeway.  To say the least it has been a culture shock to our well established country souls!

We did not choose this way of life we are living, but we know God led us here for a reason.  Here is where we will stay until he opens another door for us.

Life is not all bad here.  There are things that are nice about living in town.  It is literally five minutes to the grocery.  It does not take an entire day to drive to town for a doctor’s   appointment.  We have access to nice restaurants whenever we want to dine out, without having to drive a hundred miles.  We like that.

I always appreciated the country way of life.  At least that is what I thought.  I have come to  realize that it has taken a substantial amount of time living away from that lifestyle to acknowledge how much I took for granted.

Our daughter and her family live on a cattle ranch a few miles from where we used to live.  They took a mini-vacation and asked us to stay at the ranch and keep an eye on things.  Of course we said yes!  This is our mini-vacation!

We got here last night at dusk.  It was so serene and quiet.  The crickets were making their sweet music.  A cow was bawling in the distance.  No other sounds, just peace floating on the evening air.

I slept like a baby.  No train whistles, no sirens, no city clatter.

This morning I woke to the same blissful peace.  The cool, clean mountain air filled the bedroom.  No smog, no stench from the refinery, just sweet, pure, mountain air!

Sunrises are a different experience here.  You feel God’s hand opening the curtain of the night and revealing his glory in all he has made for us.  In town we still can have beautiful sunrises, but it is more like God yelling above the hustle and bustle, the noise, and traffic, screaming, “Stop!  Look up!  I am still here!”

We took a few pictures of the ranch to capture some moments of country peace; nature in all its’ breathtaking beauty, just hoping they will carry us through a few more weeks of city life.

This weekend has reminded me of the saying, “You can take the boy (or girl!) out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the boy!”   I have a county heart!