Why Bother?

It's been awhile since I have posted anything (for all the same reasons Kelly hasn't posted much), but diving back in...

I started reading The Church and The Land by Fr. Vincent McNabb. Almost right off the bat, I was struck by something he wrote:

"seek first the Kingdom of God, and his justice. First things first, for God's sake; or you will crash at once... Leave the garden cities and the flesh pots, not in order to scorn suburbia or to lead a simple life, but to worship God."

It can be easy to get caught up in homesteading and simple living for their own sake. After reading that passage above, I realized that at some point I started thinking about the homestead as an end in itself. When we first became interested in simple living, it was to reduce the clutter of modern life, so we could focus on the important things, God and family.

I am trying to wrap up my homesteading plans for the coming year, so reading this could not have come at a better time. I had been thinking in terms of, "what can I do to grow the homestead." But now I will be more careful to consider what will better enable me to worship God. That is the highest goal of the back to land movement. To restore a society that is centered on God.