Briar Avenue

We really are sheltered here in Happy Valley.  People say "sheltered" as if it were a slander, but it is a blessing.  The Lord brought His people here to the Rocky Mountains, a shelter from the storms of the world.  I want my home to shelter my children like these mountains and this valley have sheltered the saints for over 165 years.  I want it to be a place where they can grow and feel what it's like to live in a loving, safe place.  Briar Avenue is that kind of place--the kind we only see in old black and white reruns. 

Briar Avenue is a place where children run from yard to yard knowing they are welcome wherever they decide to play and parents know their children are watched over.  It's a place where TVs take a back seat to swing sets, trampolines, and basketball hoops.  Neighbors lean over backyard fences to admire each others gardens and share plums, berries, and apricots from whoever's trees bore the fruit.  The irrigation runs on Monday mornings and cools the feet of children as their grandparents fondly remember their Mondays in the water.  Generations have grown up here taking in the beauty of "Y" Mountain as it turns golden in the moments before the sun sets over Utah Lake.  That is when parents call in their troops, coaxing them away from bicycles, jump ropes, and that one last jump shot.  They kneel as families thanking Heavenly Father for the blessings of life, knowing that all up and down the street their children's friends are doing the same with their families.

No, there is no place quite like Briar Avenue.  It's a comfy bed I would love to snuggle down in and never leave.  But, morning will come and I will have to leave my cozy, safe shelter and take on the world again.  That is not bad.  It is wonderful!  There's a whole world out there.  A life waiting to be lived.  People waiting to be loved.  But I will forever be grateful for and long for my warm, happy place on Briar.