And so here we are at the end of my list of lost tools, at least the ones that came to mind a year ago when I wrote the article from which these posts are drawn. Some other possibilities have occurred to me since then. I’m not yet ready to write about them, but I can tell you what they are.
- I think that rootlessness was a wrong turn away from a key agrarian trait, the radical commitment to a local physical community that Wendell Berry calls “a sense of place.”
- I think that professionalism and meritocracy are modern trends that have done much to destroy the agrarian way of life.
- I suspect that early Americans made a mistake when they decided to settle on isolated homesteads rather than in villages surrounded by farmland.
- I think that we took a wrong turn when we began to look at entertainment as something to be purchased rather than something we produced for ourselves.
- I think that contentment is a powerful tool for living a good life, while modern society is critically dependent on its members being perpetually and increasingly discontent.
- And a tool that has been on my mind lately is discernment, by which I mean a hard-won ability to choose wisely in new and unfamiliar circumstances, a virtue we seem to have forsaken in favor of rules that purport to always give us a safe answer to any situation that might confront us.
Finally, I’d like to leave you with a gift. Once when I publicly wondered if there is a Bible passage that constituted a command to live the agrarian life, or at least a justification for thinking that agrarianism is a better way. A friend pointed out to me Paul’s command to the Thessalonians:
Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody. (1 Thess. 4:11-12)
I can’t think of a better way to summarize the issues I have raised in this series of posts. I think that as a society and as individuals we have taken wrong turn after wrong turn because we yearned not for a quiet life but for one filled with action, tension, drama, and significance. We were not satisfied to tend our own gardens, but were eager to meddle in the affairs of others. And we went from admiring to despising those who worked with their hands to provide for their families.
But a quiet, productive, independent, family-centered life is still a possibility for those of us who truly want it. And Paul assures us that as we live such a life, we will glorify God before a watching world.
Rick,
I have on my blog a post-in-waiting with the title ambition using the verse you just posted. I think that verse explains all my frustration with modern times. But instead of writing that post I think I am going to direct my readers over here.
Thanks for this series. It has been wonderful
This has been a great series of essays, Rick.
I would just like to add a heartfelt “Amen!” to your conclusion.
Cindy,
You may recall that Laura A. was the friend who first pointed out that verse to me. I hope you’ll go ahead and write your post on ambition anyway—we need as many different perspectives on this matter as we can get.
Sadly, contentment is a lost virtue in the Church. We seem to have decided it is something to pursue rather than accept. Rather than being content–and thankful to Almighty God–with what we have, we determine to gather unto ourselves until we ‘feel’ contented, which is hardly distinguishable from the uber-consumerism ravishing our society at large.
Jesus instructed us in how to ask for DAILY bread. Everything beyond that is just another reason to rejoice and praise God for His undeserved mercy towards us.
Hi Rick,
In addition to reading along during the past couple of weeks, I printed out all the posts in this series together and just reread them this afternoon. Perhaps I am one of those people for whom external barriers are left in place to aid sanctification (as you stated in your essay on responsibility), or perhaps it’s just the honest truth as well that I lack the full conviction, necessary skills and emotional fortitude to make those changes even if the way were open. Nonetheless, I really appreciate having so many of the things that I have been discovering slowly by experience during the past few years stated outright, and all in one place.
I particularly appreciate your having brought out:
That movements aren’t as trustworthy as living out your convictions
That small steps are important
The useful list of agrarian traits listed in your first post in the series
The acknowledgment that our society values converting our labor into money as efficiently as possible (implicitly I knew this, but having it stated explicitly helps a lot, because yes, my labor at home *does* sometimes feel like makework )
That Chesteron quote on education
The idea of redirecting our concern towards people we can’t avoid. One peculiar situation I face in the city is that there are really only two people I can’t avoid!
The valuable idea of combining socializing with real work, as opposed to Bible studies and church committees (this made me chuckle a bit, though I’ve heard for so long that Bible studies are necessary as fellowship that I find your assertion just slightly scandalous!)
Interesting historical background
A postscript: When I read your conclusion, I thought, “Oh, I love that verse! I wonder who sent him that?” forgetting that it was me. Thanks for calling me a friend
. But I think that I, in turn, must have gotten it about ten years ago from Susan L. (who sometimes reads this blog and Cindy’s), so I must assign credit to another friend who has been living that verse out for longer, and more effectively, than I have.
I just finished writing a little essay on that Thessalonians quote, using some of the ideas I’ve been learning on this blog and elsewhere. I was going to share it with a group of local women, but I don’t think I’m going to just yet for various reasons (mostly that I don’t think it says just what I’d like yet), and I’d very much like to hear what you have to say, Cindy.
Sorry so long! Again, I’ve *really* liked the series. Thanks so much for taking the time to write it.
The third point Rick made here is important–that isolated homesteads are not a great idea, as compared to villages surrounded by farmland. BECAUSE, you need to serve the poor, wherever you live. If you live FAR from the poor, whether you live on a farm or in an oversized house in a wealthy suburb, you are in a bad place, b/c you have to drive a long way to feed/serve poor people. In Old Testament times I imagine it was a bit easier b/c the poor were close by to glean from the fields. These days, buying a farm tends to remove the farmer from “village life”, so to speak. That’s not true everywhere, but in GENERAL, serving the poor is easier when you live closer to town.
Rick, I’ve just discovered this series of posts you wrote about a year ago now. And I just have to say that I enjoyed them immensely. It’s almost spooky how closely your writing resembles many of my own thoughts.
God bless.