Please hold...

I've been spending the week balancing the usual stuff with visiting with my sister and family who are here for spring break.  We live far apart, so time together is not to be wasted!  I've also been working out in the yard a lot, enjoying the spring weather.   So, not enough time or energy for blogging.  But I'll be back in a few days.  In the meantime,  here are some of the pics from our trip to the Botanical Gardens.

  Hope you are enjoying the spring weather wherever you may be!

A Sunbeam to Warm You

St. Patrick's Day is has always been a special day for me, being part Irish.  There is a part of me that has always been fascinated by stories of Ireland, and the lush green country there.  Someday, I hope to go visit and explore it myself.  

In college, I met my future husband on St. Patrick's day.  So, in honor of the sixteenth anniversary of the day we first met, I've decided to share a traditional Irish blessing with you.

 May God grant you always...

A sunbeam to warm you, 

A moonbeam to charm you, 

A sheltering Angel so nothing can harm you. 

Laughter to cheer you. 

Faithful friends near you. 

And whenever you pray, 

Heaven to hear you.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!! 

 

May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be ever at your back.  May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields.  And until we meet again, May God hold you in the hollow of his hand.

Encouraging Weeds

Who says weeds are weeds and not beautiful, bountiful flowers?  This is the question my son and I were talking about on the way home from school recently.
He: Mom, what kind of flower is that?
Me: It's just a weed honey.
He: No, not the yellow one.  The pretty purple ones.
Me: Those are just weeds, too.
He:  Why is it a weed? It's so pretty!  What makes it a weed?

At this, I flashed back to an almost identical moment from my childhood.  We had gone down to the family farm to visit my grandparents for a week during the summer.  It was a house without running water, no cable TV, and so we spent a lot of wonderful time outdoors.  One day, after walking through the fields collecting all the prettiest flowers I could find, I got back to the house and proudly presented them to my grandmother.  I asked about what kind of flowers they were.  She smiled, and told me they were weeds rather than wildflowers.  Not that she didn't appreciate me picking them for her, because she did.  And she was very kind about it, but I still remember the feeling on not understanding how things that were so beautiful could be considered worthless weeds.

Seems kind of unfair to me, that so many pretty flowers that grow quickly and spread easily in even the toughest conditions, are deemed "undesirable".  Dandelions for example.  I know many people who are constantly working to banish these "weeds" from their yards.  I think the yellow blossoms are actually quite cheery.  And the little white puffballs that they turn into are the stuff of magical childhood wishes.  So why the negative feelings about them?  Those purple 'weeds' that my son was admiring are particularly beautiful when a homeowner has let them take over the yard.  It's a truly gorgeous sea of purple flowers when they are spread across a lawn like that.  But they are considered undesirable.  Go figure.

I can't help but think that some people are treated exactly the same way.  Just because they are in the 'wrong' place.  Maybe they've lost their home and are looked down upon for living in their car or a shelter.  Maybe they simply live outside the boundaries of what we consider normal.  Maybe it's something else that sets them apart.  Everyone has value.  Everyone has something good to give the world.   It might not look like we expect it to, but it also might be so much better than we expect too.  We have to look deeply inside ourselves to find out what it is we have to share, and we have to be open to the gifts that others have to share as well.  What can we learn from someone who is growing and surviving, even in the toughest conditions?  A lot, I think, especially in our neatly manicured little worlds.

Come back soon for the other part of this post, when I'll fill you in on the encouraging part...

Wish Flowers....Encouraging weeds Wishes, part 2.

May you be blessed today and always

by the beauty that is all around us.

The Recipe for Balance

 

More signs of hope for spring!  I've had several little crocus bulbs poking their heads up despite the cold, cloudy, dreary, yucky, miserable, will-it-ever-be-over-and-warm-up-again weather!  

They make me smile, 

make me happy, 

make me hopeful.

The pictures above and below are how they looked this morning:

Then, this afternoon, the sun came out and hope bloomed:

Those are the same two flowers, both photographs taken today.  Amazing what a little time, and hope (and sun!) can do to change the way things look!

They may be hiding in the leaves, Mother Nature's version of I Spy or Where's Waldo, but they are there if you are just willing to look.  Hope is always there, if you're just willing to look and to believe. It may still be waiting beneath the soil for the right time to pop up and bloom, but it is there.  Embrace hope.  Do not get discouraged.   Be hopeful.

 

Several months ago, when I first started to redecorate and clean out my pit of an office, I hung up a large cross on the wall.  In the middle, there is a circle with the word HOPE inscribed upon it.  My husband looked at it, and said, "What do you need hope for?"  And I looked at him, and thought "What do I not need hope for?"  I need hope that I can achieve all the things on this huge 'to-do' list that I've given myself.  I need hope that I can get myself (and my life in general) balanced out and happy.  That I can finally get this stupid office cleaned out!  Now, this pit of an office is no exaggeration.  It has been overflowing with stuff since before we moved to Texas.  In Oklahoma, the room was about 1/2 the size, but we had two computer desks, my husband's drum set and music gear, his electronics junk,  and all of the office bookkeeping/paperwork crammed in that little room.  It was not the least bit organized.   When we moved, the office got bigger, but it also became the dumping ground for whatever hadn't been unpacked yet.  Or stuff that we didn't know where to put yet, or.....whatever we didn't want people to see and trip over.  Throw it in the office and close the door.  Two and a half years later, I finally decided enough was enough.  I'm going to get that office cleaned out and organized if it kills me!  I'm working on it.  And it's slow going.  But I'm thinking about it from a more balanced perspective.... a little, plus a little, plus a little more, will eventually end up with the office/retreat that I have in my head.  I will get there.   I have hope!  

It's a little bit like yoga.  I can't do half the poses.  I can't balance on one foot with my fingers wrapped around my big toe and my leg out straight in front of me.  Heck, I can barely balance on one leg!  But every time I practice, I get just a little bit closer to my goal.  And it's okay to be working on it.  To be practicing.  I'm giving myself permission to not be perfect all at once, but to let it be a process, a journey.  Toward balance, not perfection. 

I put that cross up on the wall of my unfinished office, to remind myself that I'm not on this journey alone.  

I pray that God, who gives hope, will bless you with complete happiness and peace 

because of your faith. And may the power of the Holy Spirit fill you with hope. 

Romans 15:13 

Contemporary English Version

Last week, my husband said to me, "When you finally get that office finished, you know you will have reached the end of your quest."  Well, what he said was better than that, but I can't remember the exact words he used.  They were both funny and so true.   And he's right.  That office is the symbol of my quest for balance.  And I am definitely still searching!  

For now there are faith,

   hope, and love.

   But of these three,

   the greatest is love.

1 Corinthians 13:13 

Contemporary English Version

Sounds like a great recipe for balance to me.  A little faith, a little hope, and a little love.  I'll have to keep that mantra in my head!

May you be blessed with faith, hope, & love, 

and maybe even a tiny bit of balance!

Valentine's Day Blessings

This has been a crazy winter.  On a day when the average high temperature should have been around 60, we had a record breaking foot of snow.  It still boggles my mind with the amount of it, and how beautiful it all was.  Even now, four days later, there is still snow melting and dripping everywhere.  Just amazing.

But, it's COLD!  And I'm honestly just tired of being cold.  That picture up there is my backyard!  This is Texas for goodness sake, not upstate New York!  I'm tired of the wet, and the mud, and all of it.  I usually love winter, but I've had enough.  This last round of it has made my asthma act up, my lungs hurt, and I keep hearing myself ask, "Lord, is it EVER going to be warm again?".   I even promised my husband that I will not complain this summer when it's 110 out.  I promise!! 

But, I'm trying to be patient, and I'm trying to find a better balance in life, so I'm trying to not complain too much, but I don't think it's working.  I mean, this whole post is a complaint, right?  Well, so far, at least.  

Then, yesterday morning,  on the way to church, I pulled out to the end of my driveway, and had to sit for a minute or two to wait for my finicky car to warm up.  I looked around, and....I got a flower for Valentine's day.  No, not from my husband, because we really don't do up the whole Valentine's thing usually.  Most times we agree that it's silly to waste money for a greeting card holiday when we should be letting each other know how much we love one another every day of the year.  Now, he does offer to buy me flowers, and I always tell him to just let me buy some flowers for the yard, so at least we can enjoy them all summer.  It works for us, and we're both happy with that.   So, if not from the hubby, then what am I talking about?  Check it out:

A crocus!!  A beautiful tiny purple crocus, peeking up  from under the leaves and snow.  Best Valentine's present ever, because I can't help but think that God put it there just for me to see.  

He heard my prayers, 

and He answered with a tiny blessing and sign of hope, that yes, it will be warm again.  

Now, of course, I know that I'm the one who planted that little crocus bulb last fall (a rather neat memory for me... trying to get them all planted just before a cold front and rain storm came through... I didn't quite make it and I was soaked to the skin when I came in, but gosh was that fun!  Ooooh...I had forgotten all about that!).  So, yes, I planted it, but God made it grow, and it was His timing that put that little bloom out just to answer a prayer and bring me joy.  I can't help but think that He also knew what a precious childhood memory that would recall for me also, those little flowers blooming in what seemed like impossible weather.  

A flower, a gift, an answered prayer, & precious memories all in one...what a blessing!  

Thank you, Lord!

May you all be as blessed, and feel God's love around you every day.