Where Time Slows Down

This year will mark Tim and I’s first year of taking care of the ranch on our own. After Tim’s retirement in August and Aggie’s passing in December, we made the decision to try and continue keeping the ranch going to honor Aggie’s wishes and his parent’s legacy.

What I discovered as we spent more and more time on the ranch, is how time seems to slow down a bit especially during the long cold winter months. Since one cannot go and fix fence or spray weeds, the projects are limited to feeding cows and keeping the water filled. Don’t get me wrong, there is always something one can find to do. When time slows down, one can take up old hobbies like cross stich and reading a book. The simple things become a luxury.

When I come to the ranch after a busy week at school, I feel a sense of calm and peace set in. The warmth of the pellet stove, the beautiful sunrises and sunsets and the snowcapped mountains makes me appreciate the simple things in life. Watching the very pregnant cows navigate the icy feed lot ever so carefully as they make their way to food and water, creates a perfect picture of a slow and steady pace that’s good for the soul. Watching the horses play fight over the fence, and scratching Hershel the bull provides simple entertainment. It stands to reason that we don’t have to be busy to enjoy life. The simplicity and complexity of God’s creation is always enough to bring joy in our lives.

What is most curious is how the ranch provides you time to reflect on times in the past where life was much different. Reading Wade’s diaries of long long ago, gives one perspective on how hard life really was in 1927. His first story reads: “On a cold winter day in 1927, it was Christmas and Mother was having a bad day, for she was about to give birth to a little quarter bred Indian boy. There was no doctor for miles, as I was born on the ranch. The only way for travel was by team and a sleigh. My grandma was a midwife, so she helped deliver me, oh what a sight I must have been.” When I reflect and think about the inconveniences here on the ranch, like of having to do dishes by hand, or not having a garage for my car, these kind of stories gives me a wake-up call.

A scripture in my daily devotional hit home and I felt the true contentment that only Christ can provide. Luke 17:28, For in Him we live and move and have our being. This fits well with a place “Where Time Slows Down”. There is a plethora of things to make one anxious these days. So, it becomes absolutely critical to live and move in Him. As we lean on His strength, we can rest in that truth and the pressure to perform eases. The pressures to fix, strive, juggle or make things happen in our timing is reordered to fit His rhythm rather than own. God is always holding out his hand asking us to join Him in his rhythm of life and when we take his hand, true peace and contentment can be had.

Tim and I feel as though God has blessed us by giving us this opportunity to be caretakers of this ranch, and we do it all for the glory of God as best we can. My hope is that all of us can find our place “Where Time Slows Down” and we can live and move in Christ’s plans and timing.