CBB Review: Life from Our Land

Life from Our Land: The Search for a Simpler Life in a Complex World is not your typical tome about living off the grid. There are plenty of other resources of that nature and author Marcus Grodi references many that have aided in his own journey. Rather, this book, tells the tale of one man’s journey of how gave up the hustle and bustle of our modern world for a simpler life on a 25 acre plot of land in the foothills of Ohio. In doing so he ties his faith to modern man’s struggle to answer the ultimate question….Why am I here? Marcus’ journey provides a sort of path we can ourselves follow, maybe not entirely, but in bits and pieces, so we each can ask this question of ourselves.

There is so much fertile soil….no pun intended….in this book that for this review I just had to share some of the circumstances that jumped out at me personally.

In talking of the task of clearing the land that had sat fallow prior to his families arrival Marcus states: “It takes more than a tremendous amount of time and effort; it takes a good dose of God-given talent, knowledge, patience, and partnership with willing helpers to “weed” a piece of land so it can be reaped.” Marcus tells of how he hired a man to clear a section of acreage down to bare land. Unfortunately as life took over his time, he was unable to seed the land and within a year it had become over grown once more. He points out how that scenario is much like our own spiritual journeys. “If we neglect to take time to examine the state of our soul, to repent, pray, worship, meditate on God’s Word, and love, this neglect will become the state of our soul.”

Even a the task of lighting and maintaining a woodstove in the winter plays a part in how we can grow spiritually: “Regardless of how spiritually spent you might feel – or how long it has been since you paid any attention to God or His Church, His Word, His sacraments, or His love – if you desire to return to God, the existence of this desire is the evidence that you still have within you, hidden beneath the ashes of years of neglect, failures, and self-indulgence, the coals of His divine nature received long ago in baptism…..we rekindle the long – neglected coals of God’s inner peace by stopping, even right now, to rejoice in Him, to thank Him in whatever circumstances for His constant love, to ask forgiveness for our long neglect and rebellion,and through a return to the sacraments, to enjoy the fire and light of His presence in our lives.”

Marcus’ analogy of berry picking to sin was another to give readers pause. He talks about how a person picking berries will go for those in plain view but behind the leaves are many more that one may ignore. “We can become do accustomed to sin that we grow blind to its presence and it’s effects, and the greatest of these blind sins is pride – the stubborn insistence that we have no need to change. Pride can convince us, like the impatient berry picker, that we don’t need to grow any more or dig any deeper to eradicate vices, if this requires suffering or sacrifice, and especially if a vice has become a long-standing, well – entrenched habit or even a hallmark of our character – in other words, if it would demand too much self-effacement to admit fault and try to change.”

In the constant crush of daily modern life, Life from Our Land was frankly a breath of fresh air. I found myself pausing numerous times to consider my own life and priorities. Though we may have no plans on buying 25 acres we can apply the lessons and observations Marcus has discovered to own corner of the earth from a half acre to one hundred acres these lesson equally apply. The big questions boil to the top as you read this book. What role do I play in stewardship of the earth? At what point does the pursuit of happiness cross the line to storing up riches? Why am I here and what is my mission? The contemplation that this book generates in the reader makes it a unique and worthy read for spiritual growth.

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