Category: Choosing to See the Bright Side

As I walked by my son’s studio space, a wilted plant caught my eye. Uhoh, I thought, I forgot to water it and it looked like it was beyond salvation. However, this particular plant, is a Peace Plant. It’s what I like to think of as a little over dramatic. When it gets thirsty, it droops like it’s dead, but a good dose of water perks it right back up.

I ran and got it some water and then I went about my business. I haven’t always known that Peace Plants behave this way when they don’t get the water they need. The first time it did that, I thought it was dead for sure. It was a call to my mama that assured me it would be fine. She told me it was simply its way of letting me know it needed water.

That Peace Plant reminded me of how our hearts and souls can get sometimes when conditions have become less than hospitable. When we go too long without the right amount of spiritual nourishment, we can wilt like the little plant. When we stop praying, when we neglect reading the Bible, when we stop attending worship service or when we stop spending time with other Christians who can build us up, we can develop a spiritual wilt of sorts.

To the casual onlooker, we can look beyond repair. But, there’s nothing casual about God and His relationship with His children. He knows that we are never beyond repair and that when we reach for Him all things are possible.

So, He sends His water in various ways, a call from a from a friend, an unexpected card or e-mail, a random Facebook post, an impromptu walk out in nature, a song that tugs at our hearts, or an invitation to church, could all be examples of His way of reaching out to us and reviving the spiritual wilt.

If we allow Him to, He will remind us that we are loved and we are never beyond repair, no matter how far we may have strayed or how dry and desolate our lives may feel.

When I passed by the little plant the next day, it had perked back up and was ready to take on the world. It reminded me that the same can be true for us if we reach for the right water. Sometimes I need reminding. Perhaps you do too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Last weekend, we were blessed with gorgeous weather on Saturday. I went out for a walk, not only for exercise, but also to bask in the warmth. There were so many beautiful trees and shrubs blooming in my neighborhood, that I wish I had a camera.

One thing that I kept noticing, was that while many of the azaleas were finished blooming, the ones in the shade of the trees, were going strong. They were just getting started. As I came back to my own house, I could see that my huge pink azaleas that had been beautiful just a few weeks earlier, had turned brown.

It always makes me a little sad every year, when they go from beautiful to brown. Their time had passed. But, then I glimpsed my azaleas that were underneath the oak trees. They were vibrant.

I thought about those azaleas all afternoon and into the evening. I thought about how in nature, different plants bloom at different times. Sometimes it has to do with the season. Sometimes it’s dependent on the amount of water and sunlight they are getting, and sometimes it simply has to do with where they are planted.

The azaleas in the shade bloom just as spectacularly as the ones in the direct sun; they just do it later. The late bloomers are just as beautiful and significant as the early bloomers.

The azaleas remind me that people are similar. We rarely bloom at the same time. Some of us hit our sweet spot very early and some of us don’t find it until much later in life as a second act. But, either way, we all have the opportunity to bloom and share something beautiful with the world.

The azaleas also remind me that sometimes we bloom and contribute and feel very much on track for a season and other times we are just barely hanging on. Yet with patience and perseverance, we can come back to a season of blooming, just like they do every single year.

If you woke up today, God is not done with you. He still has things to teach you and you still have beauty to share. It doesn’t matter how young or old you are, or what season you may find yourself in, or even where you have been planted. The possibilities are endless when we allow God to grow us.

Some azaleas reminded me. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Yesterday, when I walked out on my porch to let my dogs out, I once again grumbled to myself about the thick coat of pollen that covers everything this time of year. You can literally wipe it off of any surface and within a few minutes, there’s another thin layer.

More than once, I have attempted to do a thorough cleaning of my porch before the pollen is done flying and more than once, I have found myself incredibly frustrated. While I might have been ready to move on to the next season, nature was not. It still had work to do.

The yellow pollen that makes such a mess is from pine trees. They produce lots and lots of pollen to ensure that all of their seeds get fertilized and that their species survives. There’s an actual reason for the mess.

It doesn’t matter how much I sweep my porch or wash my car, the pollen will fly until it’s time for the next season. Nature does not run on my time table.

Consequently, it doesn’t matter how much I complain about it either. Pine pollen is part of living in the deep south.

As I think about the pollen, I think there may be a lesson in the mess. I think we have all had times in our lives when the pollen seems to keep flying. As soon as we clean ourselves off, we find ourselves and our world covered again in a mess of some sort. We desperately want to move onto the next season because we are just plain weary of the mess.

Most of us have wondered things like: will the baby ever sleep through the night, or will the toddler ever be potty trained, or will the morning sickness ever stop, or will the puppy ever be house trained, or will I ever finish school, or if the sadness will ever ease, or if a broken heart will ever mend?

The list of the different messes that we find ourselves in on this side of eternity, is close to endless. But, like the pine pollen, many of what we consider at the time, to be frustrating messes have a purpose. Many of them are simply a phase along the journey. Many of them are ensuring our growth.

When we look back upon them, many of them end with some beautiful blooms and a season of calm. The Bible tells us that there is a season for everything. When you think about it, that has to include the pollen times.

That thought gives me a little more patience and hope. Maybe you needed some today too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Last Sunday, my hubby and I traveled to south Georgia to see my daughter get an award. It just so happened that we had a college visit the day before, for my son, which was north of Atlanta. Needless to say, we spent lots of time in the car last weekend.

On the trip south, I commented to my hubby, who used to cycle a lot, how it seemed like the rolling hills went on forever and how difficult that must be to do on a bicycle. He told me the hills themselves weren’t all that difficult, but it was the fact that they went on and on that was the problem. He said at some point you would ask yourself if they would ever end.

He said it was a lot like hiking in the mountains. When you hike a mountain, the path is never straight to the top. You hike through switchbacks, which are like giant zigzags. You get all the way to the end and then move up a level and walk all the way to that end.

He said that he could see the mountain top from the distance as he hiked the switchbacks, but when he finally reached the top, he would find it was a false top and the true mountain top was even further up.

I thought about our conversation on our very long ride and two things popped into my mind. I’ve hiked a little myself and switchbacks can be maddening, but inevitably, they are part of the journey. There’s beauty in them if we care to look, like flowers we might have missed along the way.

The secret of a good hike is to enjoy the scenery and not race to the top. The switchbacks are part of the journey.

The second thing that occurred to me is that on this side of Eternity, all of the mountains will be false tops. We will never be completely satisfied in the journey. We will always be drawn to something higher because God is always drawing us to Him.

The hills and switchbacks will eventually end when God calls us home. Until then, we have to remember to rest when we need to, but to enjoy the journey. Yes, it can sometimes be filled with frustration and pain, but it’s filled with wonder and beauty too, that we can miss if we try to race.

A car ride reminded me to appreciate what’s in front of me. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

As I checked the weather forecast for the weekend, I let out a tired sigh. There was a hundred percent chance of rain both Saturday and Sunday. We have been in a little pattern lately and have had rain for the past two Sundays in a row. When I say rain, I mean all day rain that doesn’t let up, the kind of rain that Forrest Gump talked about, sideways rain, pouring rain; you get the picture.

So, when I saw the forecast for two full days of it, I’ll have to admit, I was discouraged. It was my last couple of days dog sitting for my parents, so that meant I would be out walking them in it.

When I woke up Saturday morning, the skies were gray as expected, I trudged downstairs to let the little fur babies out. But, to my surprise, it was not raining. It was gray, foggy and wet, but there was no rain.

It was a happy surprise and as I walked them through the wet leaves, I noticed all of the birds singing. There were squirrels running around too. The animals were out doing their thing. They apparently, hadn’t seen the weather report. The air felt clean from all of the rain and the temperature was much warmer than it has been.

In fact, my little walk with the pups, encouraged me to put on my tennis shoes and go for a cardio walk. I marveled that the birds of all shapes and sizes serenaded me the entire time. Not a drop of rain fell on me and I gave a prayer of thanks that I had the courage to venture out.

If I had believed the forecast I would have stayed indoors. If I would have gone by my experiences from the past two weekends before, I would have stayed indoors. The only reason I would have even dreamed of going out in the weather, was because I was forced to.

A little voice in my head reminded me that, that is often the case. We often miss out on all kinds of opportunities because of fear, because we believe others when they tell us we can’t, because we judge our future plans by our past, because we believe the rain will never stop or we sit indoors in fear, idly waiting for the perfect weather.

But, God… when God calls us to do something; our past or what others think or say is irrelevant. The weather is too. There’s nothing impossible for Him, nothing too hard, nothing too big or too small.

He doesn’t seek the perfect, only the willing. A walk on a cloudy, wet day reminded me. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

A couple of days ago when one of my coworkers arrived at work, I asked her how her evening went. We always chitchat in the mornings and we are both typically positive people.

But, that morning was different. She had received some bad news about a family friend the night before and was concerned about his health. She had also learned that her mama had the flu, along with a few other pieces of bad news. She had been up most of the night and was frustrated.

I listened sympathetically. Who hasn’t been there?

But, then she showed me a picture of what she did when she couldn’t sleep. She made cinnamon rolls in the shape of hearts, for her daughters to have for breakfast when they awoke.

Her gesture really struck my own heart. Life was throwing punches at her left and right. She could have coped in dozens of different ways, the vast majority probably unhealthy. She could have taken something to sleep. She could have just watched television. She could have tossed and turned all night.

Yet, she chose to do something beautiful and creative in the midst of the chaos. As the storm swirled around her, she focused on her love for her children.

I thought about her gift most of the day. I thought of her decision to give to those who have been given to her rather than to singlemindedly focus and worry about what she had no control over. That takes a certain amount of faith.

The Bible tells us not to worry in many places. Christianity teaches us that God loves us and that He’s always in control. Worrying and anxiety has never solved anything. Yet, we worry. There are so many aspects of our lives that are completely out of our control and instead of recognizing that fact and releasing them to God, we worry.

It’s our attempt at gaining control and taming the chaos. It never works, but we have an enemy who would like for us to believe that it does.

There is another way.

We can choose to be thankful during the storm for all the blessings that we do have. We can live thankfully and share the love with those who are in our circle. We can hug those closest to us extra tightly. We can trust that God is in control.

We can live with wide open hearts. There will always be storms on this side of eternity. We can’t control them. We can control our reaction to them.

Some heart-shaped cinnamon rolls reminded me. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂