“Home” with a Side of Reality (06/09/2025)

When my husband and I decided to move back to Wisconsin in 2015, we picked Lake Mills because our middle daughter lived here, our other two children were less than an hour away, and the community had the other four things we wanted: a small community, a grocery store, a doctor, and a drug store. We found a lot that was part of a homeowner’s association. It offered a view of pine trees that made me think of my years of growing up in the jack pines of Georgia. I was on a golf course, but it was the view not the golf that lured us in. We felt we’d made the perfect choice, but we later realized that every blessing had a not so blessed side, as well.

We worked with the developer and contractor to design and build our home. Construction began in March 2015. We moved in on July 31, 2015. And the first morning in our new home, we woke up at 5:30 a.m. to the sound of a rather large riding lawn mower. It sounded like it was in the master bathroom. We looked at one another and laughed. Who knew our home with a view came with a side of reality? Golf courses must be mowed, and the best time to do it is before the golfers arrive. And we learned that every morning, May through October, the mowers would visit us before 6 a.m.

Oh, there’s more. As we were enjoying our first cup of coffee in our new home, we discovered the second bit of reality that we’d failed to consider – not every ball goes where the golfer thinks he’s aiming. That’s another way of saying that when one lives on a golf course, one’s home tends to get hit with errant golf balls. And ours is especially blessed, sitting on the longest dog-leg hole. Every year we collect a 20-gallon crock of balls left in our yard after hitting our home. And we just pick them up and throw them in the crock and remind ourselves that we probably should have thought of that bonus before we bought the property.

Life is like that. There are great blessings that we wouldn’t trade, but there is “a side of reality” that may not be apparent at first. I love being a mother and grandmother, but I wasn’t really aware of all the real surprises that would come with this tremendous blessing like colic from 2-5 a.m. or explosive diarrhea striking during a diaper change. Would I return my child because of the surprise? Heavens no. But we need to admit that blessings have two sides.

Jesus knows this. He knows it very well. He was given the whole world, all of humanity, to love. What a blessing! But that blessing came with a cross because all of humanity needed saving, needed redemption. It took all His love for the Father and for each of us. Jesus loves us, this is true, but never more fully understood than when we meditate upon the cross.

This day, as we count our blessings, we will undoubtedly have a “side of reality” that comes with them. May we have the patience to deal with these and the gratitude to the LORD for all the blessings. Let us remember that into every life some rain must fall or as we who live on golf courses know, grass needs mowing. In the end, life is about how we handle things, especially the surprises. We are called to love. That is our vocation. To love the LORD with all our being and one another as the LORD, Jesus Christ, has loved us.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.