Intermission #5 - Four Year Anniversary - Looking Back

Intermission #5

Four Year Anniversary - Looking Back

This is the anniversary day of our moving into this home - May 16th, 2022.  It’s been 4 short but busy years.  We never should have bought this home, but we did.  We should have stayed closer to an Urban area, but we didn’t.  We should have bought a smaller property, but we didn’t.  We love the view!  We love the sunsets!  We love being able to go down to shore to collect sea glass (and for Syl collecting rocks, rope, shells, driftwood, and anything else she thinks is cool and may do something with some day).  I love having a tractor.  I love the fact that it’s only a one hour or so drive to one of Canada’s great national parks where we camp often - Kejimkujik National Park.

The view, the sea glass, the sunsets

This was supposed to be retirement.  Certainly I’m down to working one day every two weeks at the local hardware store.  I have been able to start writing this blog every morning.  I always sit in a chair where I can see some of the view of the back 40 (8 actually) and the Bay of Fundy.  I am really busy right now and that’s where it doesn’t feel like retirement.  We are in the midst of lofting our ceiling and last week we finished the barn, more or less.  Though I don’t work for others much, I am still working as if it were full time, spending more money than I'm making

So why do we do this?  There are lots of reasons to consider why we did what we did and many of them were economical reasons.  The rest does not seem so logical.  We are farther away from family, except for my sister who is now only 6 hours away as opposed to 15.  My son Alex and his fiancee Nicole live in Burlington ON, my brother lives in London Ontario.  Our oldest best friends Kath and Brian live in Cambridge, Ontario. 

We are here for people.  It doesn’t matter where we live as far as people are concerned.  Jesus tells us the 2 greatest commandments are:

• You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind

• You shall love your neighbour as yourself

So we build relationships.  We build relationships so that we can love our neighbours.  And it’s rewarding.  Sylvia has built friendships with more people here than anywhere else, except for Beaverton, Ontario, and her career as an artist has grown exponentially in Nova Scotia.  This is the first time I’ve been able to get to know people in my community.  I have been isolated from building relationships with people outside my faith community for most of my adult life, because I have always been employed by churches.  This is the first time that I have not been isolated.  Now, I’m not one that tends to build deep relationships (I’ve been described as friendly but shallow).  However, I’ve gotten to know some people in the community and Syl often claims I’m name dropping when I’m driving down the road and someone passes in the other direction or is working outside their home because I immediately mention: that’s so and so (“persons name”).  I’ve never experienced this before. We are also slowly inviting folks over for dinner to share an evening together.  For 3 years we’ve had guests every Christmas and that has been an incredible joy.  We’ve now started a Christmas and Easter tradition with friends over the mountain where they come here for Christmas dinner and we go there for Easter dinner.

Are we here to proselytize?  NO (sorry fellow Jesus followers if you’re reading this)! It seems to me, if the only reason you build relationships with others is to proselytize, then that relationship is pretty empty.  Most of those who we have started building relationships with know where we stand.   Our greatest hope is that everyone we would come in contact with would become Jesus followers, but that is not the commandment.  The commandment is to “love our neighbours.” Now there are other directives in scripture that tell us to make disciples and I do believe that.  What better way is there to learn from each other than in an authentic relationship where you learn the depths of each other’s heart.  That’s what it’s all about.

For all of those who read this blog and live close to me, we do talk to God about you every day for Him to bless you and maybe start to consider that Jesus is real and loves you more than you can imagine.  But be confident, we believe we are here for simply building relationships and we hope that someday, you will consider Jesus.

Have a great day.

Steve

steve.d.pauls@gmail.com 

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