We are constantly unfolding and blooming into who we were meant to be ♥
In these troubling times, when uncertainty is more abundant than ever,
she finds that her faith remains strong and loyal.
She knows that there will always be two sets of footprints in the sand,
no matter where she ends up or what the outcome.
She will hold onto the only truth that is constant, God.
He is her anchor, grounding her in the unsteady waves and storms of life.
She will hold tight to His unconditional love and mercy and she will not drown.
It’s beautiful to see the way the world is coming together for each other right now.
In this foreign new world, I’m seeing abundant beauty.
People are sharing their gifts, for free, in order to shine a light in the darkness, an act of true selflessness.
Never before have I witnessed such extreme acts of kindness and love for complete strangers.
Even though most of us are living out these redunant days inside the walls of our homes with only our immediate family,
people outside are being brought in through the wonders of technology and we are all being connected.
It’s hard to feel alone.
It’s comforting to know that goodness still exists and in times of distress we are all still connected.
It’s wonderful to see how abundant hope, joy, faith and friendship is and how easily it is being shared.
Hold tight to this time right now, and stay positive.
The world is truely a beautiful place, that even in times of chaos and confusion,
we can come together, as one, and hold each other up.
THAT is the true experience of altruism.
Don’t let this quiet world get you down.
There is so much hope that can be found in each sunrise,
promises held in each sunset.
Don’t stay behind windows, locked inside with panic and fear.
Open your door and step outside into the beauty of everything that still remains.
Watch the birds flying freely and let go, shake loose the restrictions you have placed on yourself.
Feel the wind on your face and let it remind you to breathe, deeply and with intention.
Look up to see the clouds floating passively in the sky and look inward to find grace.
In this time of uncertainity, look around at the things that haven’t changed to find some grounding within yourself.
Hold tight to all things good: love, patience, joy, kindness, hope.
Let go of those things that serve no real purpose: fear, anxiety, control, panic.
These long days of isolation will pass, like days always do.
Time will move forward and lives will go back to normal.
Let this time of pause be a time of self-care.
Let this time of pause remind us of what really matters.
Let this time of pause open our eyes to the things we’ve been holding onto that we now can let go of.
Pausing can be a good thing because it forces us to stop.
And when we stop we have the chance to see more clearly.
We have the chance to take chances we might never of taken before.
So step back from your windows and instead of waiting,
start living the life you really want to live when we press play again.
The hubs and I went on what I call a ‘date night’ walk this evening. We needed some alone time, a quiet moment to breathe and just be together. We live out in the country where there are dirt roads and wide open spaces…The perfect place to get lost in God’s beauty. As we held hands (and I stopped to take a few pics) we talked about the crisis happening all around us right now, and as we talked we both felt all of our anxieties and worries lifting off of our shoulders. In this quiet world, where the future is unknown and all of our lives have been upended we decided this is the perfect time for us to press the reset button. I think God is giving us an opportunity to slow down, to look up and finally see what we have. I don’t know about you but I feel like this could be a time of great blessings. We are going to let this time, this worldly pause, reveal to us how we can be better, how we can do better and I hope our new normal will look nothing like the old one. Take it two ways, this time can either cause you stress and panic or it can be a time of paving a new road into a much needed change.
Sitting in the downpour, it felt like the world was falling apart around me.
That wet wooden bench was my foundation but it felt like it might melt into the earth and take me along with it.
How did I even get to this moment?
Once upon a time, the sun was shining and my heart was full.
The clouds were bright and the sky was the color of the ocean.
Possibilities seemed endless and hope was abundant.
Like birds flying through the air, full of freedom and grace, was my life.
Most days I felt not like I was walking but that I was dancing, floating above the ground.
Now I sit in the rain, soaking wet and completely broken.
You took with you the sun.
I raise my face to the darkening heavens and a million little tears fall upon my already wet skin.
Let this rain cleanse me so that I can be made new.
Let it fill in the cracks so that I can feel whole again.
I am tired of feeling so heavyhearted.
I shiver a little as the air around me grows colder and I take a deep breath.
I feel the weight of myself collapse so that I am lying on this bench and I give up.
I give up you. I give up us. I give up the promises and hopes we once said we had.
I give them up to whoever will take them and I let myself drown in my misery.
Like a seed that has just been planted, this water will help me grow, from something so small and buried and unnoticed to something that rises above the surface for the entire world to behold.
From this ugliness will bloom beauty.
In time I can walk away from this soaking wet, wooden bench, and start down the path to a new way, a new life, a new me.
In time, this moment will be only a memory with less feeling attached to it.
But for now, I just need to be here, in the rain, letting go.
I like being alone but I also like being around people.
I am outgoing but I am also shy.
I can be wild and crazy but also calm and sane.
I live in reality most days but others my head is in the clouds.
I long to make friends, to bond with others but I think most people are mean.
I want to be authentically me but then I wear a mask way too often.
I am a mix of sweet and sour, yin and yang.
I am restless but always hopeful.
Sometimes sad, with a dash of loneliness.
I try my best and often fail. But I keep trying.
I believe in God but have a lot of questions.
I’m late to pretty much everything because I hate time, so I rarely look at clocks.
I want simplicity but I also long for things.
I am strong with a little side of weak.
I can be organized in the physical sense and messy in the mental one.
Most days I am endlessly searching for meaning and most likely looking in the wrong places.
I am light and dark, push and pull.
I am human, marred, imperfect.
Just a woman, trying to navigate her life so that at the end of it, I have the fewest regrets.
And in all of the places we could be that night and of all of the times,
what were the odds that we should be in the exact place at the exact time?
Our eyes meeting, our hearts pounding, something inside of us stirring.
You smiled and I melted.
I didn’t know it at the time but my life would never be the same.
A handsome stranger would become the best part of my life.
You were strong and kind, mature beyond your years.
You were brave and fearless and I remember, when getting to know you, how much I envied the way you had lived your life.
Sixteen years later, I can still recall everything about that night, like it was yesterday.
Watching a boy, in a black leather jacket, steal my heart away with his infectious joy.
Looking at you now I see a man, your hair fallen away and parts turned silver.
I love you so much but we have grown so far apart.
The years have seen us through many ups and downs,
some crazy adventures and a lot of mistakes, but we are still here,
getting through this life as best we can.
As individuals and as a couple.
You are tired.
You have a sadness about you.
Your heart is like an anchor in your chest, a heaviness weighing you down.
Filled to overflowing with burdens and responsibilities.
The years have crept up on us, time has a way of doing that, doesn’t it?
One minute you are young, with the best days ahead of you and,
the next you are grown up with this full life, that sometimes just seems like a long list of to-do’s.
Loves grows from something wild and passionate to something steady and reasonable.
You pass each other in the hallway, never really seeing one another.
And as time goes by you once more return to being strangers.
The way things used to be, long forgotten.
God, I don’t want to be that far away from you.
Take my hand and let me help you remember who you used to be,
Who we used to be.
During these bleak winter days, when the trees stand naked stripped of their once leafy branches and the world seems to be covered in snow, where once it was flowing in the bright emerald green of the grass, it can feel as if the world is dying a little.
You might look out your window and only see what isn’t there, but like a caterpillar, the world is in a cocoon, or a state of growth.
You can’t see the changes taking place beneath the soil and deep within the roots but change is happening every day.
And if we look closely, we can see the beauty in the blankness.
Without the leaves, our views change.
We can see further, beyond what is covered up in the warmer months when shade is needed.
The stark white of the snow against the dull grey of the sky seems to shine like a thousand tiny crystals, making the entire earth glow.
There is a wonderful simplicity during this season where things are shed and things are lightened.
It can be a simple reminder for us to unpack a few things ourselves, shed our own ‘leaves’ and lighten our own loads.
We too can find beauty in letting go of the parts of ourselves that no longer serve us.
I believe God created people and seasons with change in mind.
He wants us, just like he wants this earth, to constantly be growing and changing and becoming.
Just as the caterpillar blooms into a magnificent butterfly, full of grace and freedom and courage, so will you.
So will your world.
You are everywhere.
In me and outside of me.
In the best of times and in the hardest of times.
The only one that has never left me, yet I didn’t notice you until I really looked.
It’s impossible to see those things you don’t believe in.
They can be right there, yet remain invisible until you call them out.
Jesus, I see you now.
My heart is filled with your love, my lungs full with your breath.
I am not only living but truly alive now that I have found you.
You have awaken the best parts of me and made me want to become better, more like you.
I long to fearlessly pursue my purpose, hand in hand with you.
I want my every day to be spent walking closer towards you until one day,
when my time here is over,
I find myself standing face to face with you and you’ll be exactly as I pictured.
Beautiful, full of grace and love and understanding.
I will rush into your open arms and finally I will be home.
Right where I always belonged.
Give yourself room to grow today.
Listen for that voice, the slight whisper, that you often ignore. It’s your intuition, your spirit, guiding you.
Watch for signs that light the way and confirm you are heading in the right direction. Some coincidences are hints that you are on the right path, ready for a breakthrough. Pay attention to them.
Be brave enough to make mistakes by trying, yet be humble enough to admit when you are wrong.
Count your blessings and name them if you need reminding. Oftentimes we get so busy searching for ‘things’ we forget what we already have.
Be okay in the not knowing and hold tight to patience. God is working things out for you. It just may not be in the time you expected.
Don’t go looking for happiness in possessions or other people. Authentic happiness can only be found inside of you. It’s always there and it’s always free. Searching for it elsewhere will only lead to discontentment.
Put your phone down for a while and look up and around. Take in the sky, the clouds, the birds, the treetops. Take in life, you will never find peace if you are always connected.
Take a moment to kneel. Thank God that you woke up today. That you still have chances and opportunities. That you have another day to be because tomorrow could arrive but there is no promise that you will see it.
Live with reckless abandon.
Pursue life.
It will all go by too fast and you only get this one shot.
Behold Her Bloom 