making luck

The fact is, the Corona virus and its resultant quarantine haven't affected us much.  We have less money, yes, but we seldom have much.  Our food, feed, and fertility come from the farm; so does our heating fuel.  Our daily work and food are a good part of our satisfaction.So I guess it's not surprising that people tell us, often, how lucky we are.  And in one sense they are right, if what they mean is that we are blessed.  Lots of people are blessed; actually, all people are blessed.  It is blessed to be in the eye and mind of God.But if they are looking at our exemption from the current fears about disease and food shortage, we are not 'lucky', we're just different.Everyone makes choices: in fact, the ability to make choices -- the freedom to elect to do one thing and not another, or to elect to do nothing -- is at the heart of what many people mean by the word 'happiness'.  Necessity, almost by definition, is oppression, even coercion; in the modern eye, it is the reverse of freedom, the reverse of happiness.But our choice, consistently and increasingly, for over 25 years, has been the commitment to stay in place -- what the Dominicans call 'stability' -- and to do repetitive labor, many times a day, every day, always.  We milk cows morning and evening; we feed livestock -- cows, sheep, pigs, poultry -- twice a day.  We cook three meals, eat them, clean up after them.  We pray together, morning and evening.  We work together.  There can be no casual wandering off, no 'not feeling like it' when it's chore time.  Necessity.And yet, this is our choice.  It is this that gives us immunity to some of the present cultural worries.  Our situation did not descend on us from Heaven; it wasn't born into us, in our genes.  It's just a decision.  Lots of people could make it.  Maybe it doesn't look so crazy right now, either.