Wildflower Whimsy

Happy Monday friends!

Thank you for your grace in putting up with highs, and the lows, of my blogging words. It has felt vulnerable sharing that I don’t, in fact, have everything together. To commit to writing authentically is scary. Again, thank you for the grace.

After a couple of weeks of having anxiety sit heavy on my chest. Wrestling with God in prayer and stillness and yet not seemingly able to move forward. And then, after last week’s post… learning to ‘lean in’ to the hard feelings. Which kind of validated them for me and made me feel seen in the low seasons. God took me a step further on my life walk. . . and how He unfolded it was gentle and beautiful. Bear with me while I share…

The Bible verses on stopping worry and anxiety in Luke 12, where he says, “consider the wildflowers”, sat with me. I had a spare evening last week, still carrying an anxious heart and decided to look up and learn about (aka consider?) Seaside Daisies, which grow prolifically on our property. Unsown, and untended. And yet, beautiful. As I was researching, it was advised to ‘trim back the faded blooms and spent flower stems to encourage more blooms’ (google). Which made me think of the red geraniums I have growing in a pot on our deck. I have made a point over this past year, to break off the geranium flowers whenever they start to discolor and wilt. Since making this a practice, this pot blooms prolifically in comparison to the other geranium flower plants we have throughout our gardens. It is lovely to behold.

As I was pondering this, a small excerpt from an incredible author and speaker, Bob Goff, was pressed to mind. I have found it in a youtube clip to share with you here as well (it’s less than a minute, have a watch!). Bob Goff shares that every Thursday, he quits something. This translated to me as quitting things that have grown stagnant, discolored or wilted. A prayerful opportunity to ask God to place upon your heart the areas/things in your life that perhaps once helped you bloom, but now are starting to fade and die… areas that you need to quit to continue to bloom, prolifically.

And so, with my red geraniums as a visual, Thursday came – and I prayed. And four areas/things in my life that had been weighing on me…and also, that I had been attempting to control, but failing miserably, were put on my heart. Unexpected things that I didn’t really want to quit. But quit them I did! Some were actual physical items. Some were toxic thoughts. And when they came back to my mind, I rejected them away.

My goodness. I felt light.

While I firmly believe that ‘whimsy’ isn’t a box you can tick, or something you can make. The task we have each day is to make the space for whimsy to surprise us. To find moments of solitude with Jesus… to quiet our souls. And what better way to help us in this is to intentionally set a day where we prayerfully ‘prune’ the fading blooms in our worlds to make way for the beautiful new flowers God wants to bring out of us.

I’m goaling to get my secateurs out every Thursday and do some soul gardening with Jesus! Care to get your hands dirty with me?

Quote of the week:

As long as I keep my soul alive by dwelling in His presence, remembering the roles He plays in my own life, as long as I cultivate and practice a heart of love, I can overcome the darkness, – including all darkness in my soul – here on earth. But love and beauty and faith must be cultivated daily, in His presence, looking for His reality, so that my heart will be filled with His truth and His overcoming goodness and redeeming light. – Sally Clarkson

With wildflower whimsy,

Steph xo

p.s. How has whimsy surprised you this week? I noticed a tiny purple cosmos smiling at the sun this week. . . a little early in the season. But it was so pretty, it made me smile.

Also learning that thanksgiving is a great sacrifice to God. Being thankful in the hard things can definitely feel like a sacrifice. Making a list each morning (or the mornings you can) of all that you have to be thankful for can really set yourself up for delight. A good reminder for me when unexpected stressful situations pop up throughout the days and weeks – can I get an Amen!?