Embrace the Simple!

 With school starting, I've been reflecting on the joys of summer.

Most of them are simple--butterflies, flower blooms, fresh vegetables,

a dip in the pool with the grands, and time with friends and family.

God doesn't want us to make life so complicated we don't embrace the beauty

and joy of each season.

I love this quote by JRR Tolkien.

Let's celebrate the everyday, simple things!

Seek the Beauty

Walking in the woods this time of year, I don't see much color. 

There's an occasional dart of red from a cardinal 

or some orange bittersweet buds still hanging around, 

but without snow, brown covers the canvas. 

Tim and I walked a path at the local park not long ago 

and this bright orange fungi grabbed my attention. 

I love discovering beauty in the every day. 

Some people may not think fungus is pretty, 

but this particular one looked like flower petals growing from wood.

When you're out and about or even at home seek beauty in every day.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. 

He has also set eternity in the human heart; 

yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

-Ephesians 3:11

 

Catch the Wonder

As I was walking my daughter's dog, I enjoyed the flowers I found along the way.

I came across the one in the picture, which I'd never seen before.

After I snapped a photo, I checked my plant identification app.

This beauty is called the passion flower or maypop, a vine with an intricate flower.

If I hadn't been paying attention, I would have missed this interesting plant.

I want to catch the wonder of God's creation every chance I have.

 

Palms up...Let Go

Philippians 4:4-7

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

My flower bed looked kind of pitiful.

The black-eyed Susan's blossoms had dropped and their leaves had turned reddish brown like some of the autumn trees. The wind had knocked them down for the count. My lavender plants stretched until they looked lanky and the woody under part showed. The blazing stars' heads looked more like cattails than purple flowers. My zinnias were the only plants hanging on to summer.

I could wait for the first frost to kill more foliage or I could start the process of cutting the plants back. With clippers in hand I attacked the lavender. A lovely scent filled my nose as I snipped the branches. With just two plants, the trimming took minutes. But what a difference the pruning would make for spring growth.

Sometimes life mirrors a flower garden. I plant, fertilize, water, and prune my flowers, and God waters, prunes, and encourages growth. Sometimes I need more than a trim. Old habits, like worry, need chopped out to allow for more positive behavior. Worry produces about as much good as a gangly plant that languishes and flops in the garden. While some plants survive and even flourish with a quick trim, others like the black-eyed Susan and blazing star must be cut to the ground in order to grow the following spring.

Paul calls us to pray instead of worry. Our heavenly father asks us to talk to him instead of keeping our concerns balled up inside or wringing our hands with frustration.

I sat on my porch the other day and tried something I'd read about, but not done. I opened my hands, palms up, and held them in front of me. Then I prayed. This small gesture of letting go of my requests brought me peace as I spoke to my Father in heaven. Worry steals the peace that encourages my faith. God listens. He loves to hear from us.

Pray instead of worry. God's peace guards the most vulnerable parts of our being.

Friends in the Garden

I never know who I'll see in my garden.

As I watered my flowers and poked around, 

I almost missed a brown mantis as it climbed the zinnia leaves. 

Tiny foot by tiny foot.

A bee buzzed the virginiana Bouquet Rose and searched for sweet pollen.

Wing beat by wing beat.

I love meeting creatures who enjoy my flowers as much as I do.

Be the Peacemaker

Flower Friday: Love-in-a-mist

I was introduced to Love-in-a-mist by a dear friend. This gorgeous flower belongs to the buttercup family. Once you sow the seed in spring, expect these beauties to bloom and produce seed pods for the next year. They'd be a lovely addition to a cottage garden.

Flower Friday: Impatiens

I snapped a photo of this gorgeous impatiens bloom in my neighbor's garden. Drawn to the gorgeous shade of pink, I admired the simple flower's beauty. Impatiens come in a rainbow of colors: pink, red, white, violet, coral and purple. Even though the plants do reseed, most folks plant them annually from nursery grown plants.  

Joy in the Garden

Psalm 28:7

The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.

Flowers bring me joy. If you've checked out my Flower Friday posts, you know botanicals have played a part in my life since childhood. From the flower garden my mom nurtured to the row of irises (we called them flags) my dad planted, I've always enjoyed flowers. The whole process from sowing the seed or placing the baby plant in the ground to the photosynthesis in the leaves is nothing short of amazing.

My granddaughter Dilly and I planted zinnias, snapdragons, geraniums and a few other flowers in my tiny flower bed in May. As I walked by them this hot August morning I noticed how they had spread, like they lifted their arms toward the sun and stretched. The beautiful array of colors fills me with joy.

Jesus calls us to be a joyful people. Not just happy but filled with joy. In sadness, disappointment, distress, or frustration the joy of knowing my Savior loves me fills my heart with hope. Each time I look at the flowers in my little garden, I'm reminded of the everlasting joy of life with God.

At camp and vacation Bible school we sang a song:

I have the joy, joy, joy down in my heart.
Where?
Down in my heart.
Where?
Down in my heart.
I have the joy, joy, joy down in my heart.
Where?
Down in my heart to stay.
-George W. Cooke (Public Domain)

As simple as the words are, they speak volumes. That joy that is a product of loving Jesus is in my heart to stay.

Do you know the joy Jesus gives?

Flower Friday: Coneflower

The purple coneflower stands guard over the garden. A member of the echinacea family, "The genus name, Echinacea, comes from the Greek word ‘chinos,’ meaning hedgehog." The center of the flower stands out like a prickly little hedgehog.
Bees, butterflies and hummingbirds love the coneflower.
They're easy to grow and add lovely color to the garden.

Grant, Bonnie. “History Of Purple Coneflowers.” Gardening Know How, 5 May 2018, blog.gardeningknowhow.com/tbt/history-of-purple-coneflowers/.

Flower Friday: Zinnia

Zinnias bring me joy. 

I fell in love with the colorful heads that sway in the breeze, when I was a child. 

These jewels grace my flower garden. Their bright shades of beauty speak summer!

Flower Friday: Black-eyed Susans

Every summer for as long as I can remember, Black-eyed Susans bloomed on my birthday. Seeing the beautiful sunshine-filled flowers reminds me how much God loves me. These lovely posies bloom in gardens and meadows. I remember seeing them in the fields and ditches and feeling blessed to have such lovely birthday bouquets.

Flower Friday: Chicory

The delicate light-blue blossoms of chicory wave hello to summer. 

Did you know, the roots of chicory are sometimes used to make coffee? I had the opportunity to taste this interesting drink at the Cafe Du Monde, in New Orleans. It was quite tasty along side a delicious beignet.

A Flower...