living small

Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at thy altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God.

Psalm 84:3

Contentment Cottage is founded on these words from Psalm 84.
“Even the Sparrow Finds a Home”
You may be asking, “Why?”
Because in the overall scheme of God’s kingdom I am a sparrow. One of thousands pecking out a living along the highways and byways of life, one of millions–so numerous that two are sold for a penny. And not one of them will fall to the ground without our Father’s will. (Matthew 10:29)

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Before the internet. Before Facebook and Twitter and Instagram my entertainment was drawing and writing. My dream was publishing peace, in the form of children’s books. Well…that’s not exactly accurate. My dream; the deepest desire of my heart, my calling if you will, was to be a Christian Motivational Speaker. God allowed me to dip my toes into the arena of Christian Women’s Camps and Retreats a few times, but nowhere near the full-time ministry of my dreams. Then someone told me that to be regularly invited as “the speaker” at retreats and camps I should really be a published author. So…never being one to take no for an answer without doing everything possible to have my own way, I got busy and started writing.

The path to being published before the internet grew up was a slippery, twisting, nearly impassible road. Publishers did not accept submissions from individuals, but from literary agents. Literary agents frowned upon un-published writers, accepting one only occasionally, and that only when they were well known in the world of armature authors with a good many awards and published articles or short stories to their credit. The catch 22 was obvious. Getting accepted by a publisher unless you had already been published simply did not happen outside of fiction.

Added to that were the naysayers among family member in the Educational Community who told me it would be impossible to have stories such as mine published because… Following came a list of perfectly reasonable reasons fostered by their personal and professional point of view.

Wow! is it any wonder that my dream slunk off into a dark corner and died a quiet, if heart-broken, death?

Then along came the internet! It became normal for armature writers and artists to publish their work online. e-books out stripped paper volumes because iPhone and Kindle were ‘IN’ and books were old hat. What a great opportunity for a sparrow like me. These days I entertain myself writing and drawing; publishing peace as part of God’s plan for my talents. I love speaking to individuals and occasionally small groups about God’s Grace, Love and Mercy, and I am contented with living the small life He has provided.

The truth? Back when I wrote “The Sparrow Finds a Home” most of what I could tell you was ‘hearsay’ anyway. Today, the story is quite different. After four decades of walking with Jesus my testimony is that of an overcomer. And, God willing, my dream of sharing it with Christian Women in larger groups may yet be realized. I’m leaving it all up to Him.