by Cheryl Schuermann
Like many young writers, I once dreamed of writing novels set in exotic places with castles and golden-haired princesses with tiny waists. But more than a half century later, I found myself standing at the edge of a farm pond in the muck helping my grandchildren catch tadpoles. And thinking…wow, I see the makings of a devotion here.
When this “I’ll never live in the country” city girl married a boy from rural Oklahoma more than fifty years ago, I didn’t realize how I would come to love the country experience. Soon after Stan and I married in the early 1970s, his parents bought the land we affectionately call The Farm.
The unique land boasts flowering meadows, deep rocky ravines, and a magical twenty-three-acre lake. One hundred fifty-five acres of playground.
My in-laws had a vision for their sons and their families. They wanted us to love the outdoors in their discovery of God’s created glory. Wherever their descendants lived in the years to come, they would always have this place to visit and enjoy. Our four boys were rooted and grounded on The Farm, as we like to say. Over the years, we hiked, camped, fished, and built forts with them and they knew this was a special place, a heritage to treasure.
Stan and I could not help but catch the vision and make it our own. In 2016, a long-time dream was realized when we built a turn-of-the-twentieth-century style farmhouse on the land. Though the construction was new, the interior felt like a step inside our grandparent’s homes. While building the farmhouse, we spent many months restoring century-old doors, antique washstands, and dozens of tarnished doorknobs, hinges, and escutcheons. These items, destined for the dump, were given new life according to their design, reinforcing our farmhouse motto: Redeem…Restore…Repurpose.
The spiritual lessons kept coming.
A walk outdoors opened abundant opportunities for adventure, fun, and discovery. Birds from the tiniest hummingbird to the majestic eagle, fields of wildflowers, spectacular sunsets over the pond, woods to explore and fish to catch. Following a hike, the grandchildren often returned to the house with treasures they found in the woods, emptying their pockets of animal bones and teeth and proceeding to sort them. Even as young children, they want to understand how things fit together. They know God created a discoverable, orderly world and designed each animal with intent.
I never entertained the thought of writing a devotional book until this land and the farmhouse experience inspired a sweet season of thanksgiving and worship. Sixty devotions in Farmhouse Devotions: God’s Glory in the Ordinary lead the reader to discover the wonder of God’s world and the beauty of Scripture. Original artwork and family recipes add to the uniqueness of this devotional. I invite readers to join me as we explore themes of grace, redemption, and restoration. Together, we will embrace God’s storehouse of blessings and draw closer to Jesus.
Catch the vision and pass it on.
What we deem ordinary may be extraordinary, after all.
Cheryl Schuermann
Website:
https://cherylschuermann.com/
