The Soul Dare

This is the first Saturday since April that neither Ted nor I had anything planned.  It was just a free day to do NOTHING!  Ted took advantage of this day of nothingness and surprised me by taking me on an adventure.  All I asked was that it did not include 4-wheelers or woods (I'm still itching from the last adventure).   He assured me it didn't, but I still wore a skirt and flip flops just to be safe.  We grabbed a cup of coffee, shared an apple cinnamon scone and down the road to went to an unknown destination, unknown to me, that is.  He knew exactly where he was heading.

We arrived at a place that I had seen advertised in a newspaper many months ago and had mentioned that I would like to go to one day.  Fulmer's Farmstead and General Store in Richton, Mississippi.  We walked into the General Store and were welcomed with the words, "Lunch will be served in 15 minutes." How's that for a greeting?  There we so many things to look at - homemade breads & pastries, colorful jars of preserved fruits and vegetables, fresh tomatoes, watermelons, onions and peppers, bulk food items and much, much more.  Lunch was a meat and choice of veggies grown right there on the farm - lima beans, squash, greens, peas, and sweet potato pie for dessert.  It was delish!

After lunch we walked through the farmstead and were accompanied by a host of chickens, goats, horses, cats and turkeys.  The neighbors dog escorted us through the grounds and snuggled up close to Ted when we stopped by one of the old farm houses and tried out the rocking chairs on the porch.

I wandered into the farm house and found many things that I've heard my daddy talk about from his growing up days on his granddaddy's farm.   It felt like I had walked right into Laura Ingall's little house.  Then I spotted a hand stitched sampler sitting on top of the ice box.  It's words were simple, it's meaning deep and rich.  "Faith is daring the soul to go beyond what the eyes can see...".  The soul - the mind, the will and the emotions.  Faith is daring the mind, daring the will, daring the emotions to go beyond what the eyes can see.  I love this!  I need this!  There are things that I see with my eyes and believe that that is all it will ever be.  Faith dares my soul to see more.

Who would have thought that a simple little sampler in a simple little house would dare my simple little soul to go beyond what I can see and believe that things can be better.          


"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."  Hebrews 11:1