Wildflower Whimsy

Happy Monday wildflowers!

How is everyone? Where have you found whimsy this week?

Full transparency… I’m a little worn. It’s a grateful, exhaled worn. With a dash of desire for a good long rest! But worn, nonetheless.

This week brought so much unexpected beauty and whimsy and mountains to climb. My dear youngest sister home birthed her new baby into the world, with her husband and myself by her side. It was magnificent and epic and glorious in all of the ways. There’s nothing quite like new birth to truly give perspective on what is beautiful and important and of highest value in life. Holding a newborn babe. Wow. The tears couldn’t help but form in my eyes. I think it’s been that way ever since. The soul stopping beauty of total helpless, beautiful, innocent, unadulterated trust. I just wanted to pause time for always and bask in the purity.

With so much going on in our lives of late. My body and soul are craving stability. Rhythm. Home. Simplicity. Rest.

It’s been ever present in my mind of how I can find this when there is still so much upheaval as a constant in our current life season?

To find a little bit of grounding in life this week, I have fought hard for the small things.

Comfort meals around the table.

Lighting candles.

Cozy pjs.

Weekly and daily family habits and traditions that we hold dear and repeat day after day and week after week

Cuddles with my children. And choosing them when I could have escaped alone.

These little things have all helped, but I think it’s the external stormy winds that have battered my will to keep going strong.

Through the ebbs and flows of the week, however; I have sensed God calling me gently. Nudging me to remember, there’s nothing I can do to find peace. My life source is Him.

I listened to a sermon this weekend just past. It explained the story of Paul talking to a group of people in Athens who followed thousands of different gods and idols that required their service, works and sacrifices; but they had also realized there was One God Whom they didn’t know or understand. . . Paul proceeded to explain to them Who the ‘unknown God’ was (and still IS!):

“The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.” (Acts 17:22-27).

We are not unlike the people of Athens. We have thousands of ‘idols’ we place before God.

These include the idols of busyness, image, media, phones, reputation, status, things, keeping on top of things, perfection, wanting to impress, success in this life, having it ‘all together’, knowing what to do, and having to have ‘all the answers’. Even good things – like working to be ‘healthy’, focusing on spirituality and ‘doing all the right things’ as a wife/mother/friend/human-in-general can become our idols if they take the place of God in our lives.

These idols destroy our ability to have God as our GOD and they prevent us from having an intimate relationship with Him. They all TAKE from us and ultimately will destroy us; burning up our time, energy, mental load, attention and focus. But the one true Creator God – He doesn’t require works, service and human sacrifice the way these false idols do. God is the ONLY God Who GIVES to us. Life, Breath and Everything. By us giving our minds, hearts and souls to HIM, as part of a loving and committed relationship with Him, we can’t help but be FILLED and RECHARGED from His fountain of LIFE. We are made in His image. When He fills us, we overflow from a place of fullness, not deficit. Abundance. The wonder of it all. Imagine!

I’m still ruminating in this.

And realizing I don’t have to labor to give anything to our Father in heaven. I just have to turn from the idols that prop up in my life and steal my attention from God; and humbly bow, offering my heart, mind and soul with outstretched arms and receive Him and the life and breath and comfort and all He has just for me to give me a life of abundance. Never lacking… having everything I need.

This all bodes the question, what things have taken the place of God in our lives? He hasn’t left us; He is with us – holding us this whole time. But if we are feeling empty, lacking and distracted – could it be that our worship focus has left our Saviour and turned to another false god? I want my worship to be on God alone. Are you with me?

With wildflower whimsy,

Steph xo

P.S. Quote of the week:

“You recognize that if your default has been to imagine situations in which things go wrong, it is just as reasonable to imagine what would happen if things go right.” – W. Lee Warren MD.

I have started a journal of whimsy gifts this week. Left open where possible to jot things down as they make me smile. A reminder that the gifts can be really small, but if we write them down – somehow they take up more space and become what we focus on and remember from our weeks. Here are just a few whimsy moments for me from this week:

• Long VERY newborn snuggles… obviously!
• A little snail ‘squishy’ (squishies are a bit of a fad in the tween world at the moment, or so I’m told) that my second daughter gave me just because. I placed said snail on our hallway shelf and it has been a reminder to me to take things ‘slow’.
• Watching a movie with my children on a midweek night; sipping hot chocolates with marshmallows and laughing at my kids hysterical laughter over funny movie lines brought me so much delight.
• Catching the beauty of the sun setting, exhale
• Making a gorgeous cut flower bouquet full of vibrant pink strawflowers, greenery and native flowers from my garden for our table. A gift to myself that keeps giving.
• Getting out in the gardens and tending my trees this week, a happy place for me.
• Watching my mum paint my youngest daughter’s nails.
• My hubby working hard at home and at work. Pouring out to us is a constant. He is so strong inside and out and I admire him so much.
• The banter between my eldest daughter and me. A comfortable fun and beautiful season of sharing womanhood together.
• My son’s laughter and energy, exuberant and fun!
• Birds. Always the beautiful birds that stop me midstride. I can’t help but to pause, listen and watch.
• Phone chats with my sisters
• An unexpected phone call from my brother just to chat. A rare, happy treat!
• Friendships with beautiful women who truly care.
• Reading. . . always reading!
• Getting flower bulbs and vege seeds in the mail… “brown paper packages tied up with string… these are a few of my favourite things!”
• Soothing chicken bone broth simmering all day for a chicken noodle dinner feast.
• Choosing to holiday.
• My son built a large timber Jesus cross and placed it in our front yard garden, in the path of our sunset view. A reminder of Him when the sunset is painted on the horizon.
• My youngest daughter painting the outside of our cubby house outside in the sunshine with music on a speaker blaring while my middle children danced. I want to soak this season in!

I’ve also been prompted to use the sunset as a ‘cut off’ time from the ‘hustle’ of the day. A time to goal towards to have already ‘wrapped up’ the days loose ends and wind down for the evening. It’s a beautiful endeavor and I hope to achieve this as many days as possible to bring a little bit of slow comfort to this season.

If you have some spare time, this read was a good reminder for me that we don’t need much to make beautiful memories and have lovely leisure time. A reminder of what life use to be like before leisure was monetized.

How about you? What ways have you found beauty and whimsy this week? Write down a list and keep it flowing! What we focus on grows, and I can’t think of a better thing to grow than gifts of whimsy!

Lots of love, Steph x

P.P.S. Another thought I’ve been pondering. We don’t know the future of the world. But we know Who holds it. And we know we have only truly got now and today to enjoy our people. I want to make it count – undistracted. These are the best days of our lives. If I’m not enjoying God and my family, what is stopping me? (Hint: Sometimes it’s just plain tiredness! Giving the burdens to God and taking a nap changes everything!)