Summer is just around the corner! Actually, in Pennsylvania, we are hoping it is right around the corner. It has been a very chilly and rainy spring! Regardless of the weather we have been having, or perhaps because of it, I am in the mood to get flowers, spruce up our outdoor areas, and ready to start enjoying the fresh air—as soon as the weather cooperates!
If it were feasible, I would live outside in the summer! We enjoy having campfires on the weekends and eating dinner on the front porch during the weekdays. There is a lot of life that can be lived outside in the summer but sometimes the outdoor areas need a little refresh, a few tweaks to make certain areas much more livable and enjoyable for dining and hosting outside. Today I thought it would be fun to share some ideas that I’ve seen/heard/done to inspire you to make the most of your outdoor areas this year.
Rooms
Just like you have rooms inside your home, so too can you set up little “rooms” or areas to your outdoor space. You don’t need a huge area to do this. In fact, defining a few spaces can make your outdoor area feel larger than it actually is.
If you have only a small back yard or patio area you should still consider setting up a table and chairs, then angling away from the table you can set up another chair or two to make two separate little seating areas. This little break will make your area feel bigger than having everything grouped together.
Know Your Priorities
If you have a small outdoor area you may have to choose: would you rather have a more comfortable sitting area, or would you like to have a table and chairs that is more conducive to tasks and eating—but a little less friendly when it comes to reading a book.
Make it Cozy
If you have a decent size porch or patio area, think about adding an outdoor rug to your space. Just like inside, a rug is a great way to define a space, and if you have little kids, it is also a great way to give them a little softer place to play. Adding a rug to a sitting area will make it a little cozier, and sliding an outdoor rug under a table and chairs will instantly upscale your space. As an added bonus, if you have a deck or patio that you don’t like or one that is needing repaired or replaced, a rug can help refresh it, making the space a little more comfortable until you are ready to tackle it.
Add Lights
Stringing a few Edison-style lights or café lights outside can make it feel like you are at a cute beach-side bistro. Of course, they are lights which means you’ll have more light outside—perfect for reading at night! You can attach poles to your railings to add height to string the lights between. If you have a patio instead of a railing, you can pour cement into cute pots to secure the poles to give yourself something to string the lights to and from.
Add Plants
Just like inside, adding a few plants to an outdoor space will make it come alive—literally! If you have neighbors that are really close, you can try making a privacy fence with a fast growing vining plant, such as morning glory—fix a few strings from your yard to your porch roof to give the plant something to grow up. This will provide you with some natural shade, a noise barrier and beautiful flowers!
Add What You Need
I see over and over again, in my house and at homes of others, that we avoid buying the little things that would make the biggest difference in our ability to use a space. If you need a little stand on which to set your glass while reading on the outdoor chair, it’s worth buying, making, or getting inventive to find something that fits that bill!
I’m gonna do it. I am going to tattle on my husband’s side of the family—they are picky eaters. When I say that they are picky eaters, I mean they are extremely picky eaters! They are good sports; they don’t fuss when I make something that to my mind is pretty safe but to them is adventurous and not altogether pleasing. Nonetheless, the fact remains that they simply don’t love many different foods, especially if these foods have spice or too many combined flavors. Just because they are good sports doesn’t mean that I’m a good sport. Oh no! I usually tease them and “lovingly” give them a hard time, but just the other day I was thinking about how one of my now-favorite foods was not too long ago, one of the very few foods that I just couldn’t stand.
I am not a picky eater. At all. I haven’t been in a situation where I have been tested to eat anything as daring as insects but I was the child, and my mother will confirm this, that was taking smoked oysters and beets in their lunch to daycare as a toddler. However, there were a few foods that I simply had not been able to muster a taste for—among these were pineapple.
I had tried pineapple a few times throughout the years and just didn’t like it. It didn’t make sense—I like other fruits and tart foods but every time I tried pineapple, I just didn’t like it. It was the rehearsal dinner, the day before our wedding, there was pineapple as part of the dessert. I looked at it and couldn’t remember the last time I had tried pineapple so I went for it. Still didn’t like it. The next day was our wedding and it was such a busy, fun day! Someone put a bag of fruit together for us before we left the reception. I was munching on the fruit on the way home when I tasted a piece of fruit that I couldn’t quite place. It was dark so I couldn’t see what I was eating and my new husband did not like the light on in the car, so I just kept munching away. We stopped to get gas and I turned on the light to look at what this fruit was that I was really liking but couldn’t place—pineapple! Ever since that day I have been a pineapple lover.
I had tried pineapple the night before and hadn’t liked it, but in all reality it was my preconceived notions about pineapple that prevented me from liking it. Given the opportunity to try it blindly, I really liked it! That’s the problem with preconceived notions though—we can’t just give them up! I wanted to like pineapple. The night before I tried the pineapple and found that I still didn’t like it. We have preconceived notions that affect our spiritual life too.
So many times we approach trusting in God as a scary thing and for sure it can be! We don’t know what He will ask us to do, where He may send us, or what He may ultimately require of us. So we hold back. What do we miss out on by holding onto these preconceived ideas? I am the worst offender of looking at what could be the worst possible outcome of things (I’m a realist not a pessimist!), but we rob ourselves of so much joy and do a disservice to God every time we hold out on wholeheartedly trusting Him because we fear what may happen if we do. We don’t stop to think about how much could go right and what joy we could find in communion with Him if only we would stop trying to be in control and instead release those fears. As Jesus said in Matthew 7:11, “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him! “ (NIV)
Maybe it’s time to stop trying to grab the reins and instead hand them over to Him. Maybe, just like with me and the pineapple, we will find that we actually like the communion that comes with totally trusting Him.
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Growing up, I loved going to youth group. My best friend also attended and it was a chance to hangout and catch up with her during the week when we otherwise would not have seen each other. My mom helped with the youth group and many times we would end up picking up kids on our way. I was always fine with leaving our house a little early to pick up anyone else, but I remember one time we were going to bring three kids from one family to youth with us that evening, but because of scheduling, it was going to work much better if we would have them join us for dinner, and then head over to youth group. I wasn’t crazy about this idea. Looking back now I’m not sure why—from what I can remember, I think it was because while near me in age and we got along for the most part, but they could be … a little loud. And wild. As an only child I didn’t like loudness. I still don’t! I did not like the thought of the kids coming over and being in my space, with my stuff, and turning my home from a calm, relatively quiet place, to a loud exciting place—even if only for an hour. (I should have been born a little old lady, as that is the temperament I tend towards naturally!)
Oh I was all about being hospitable and taking kids to church as long as it didn’t demand anything of me; after all, I couldn’t even drive so this all fell on my mother’s shoulders! But when it came to truly being hospitable and inviting people into my home and causing me discomfort, I wanted nothing to do with it!
I was reading An Altar in This World by Barbara Brown Taylor and one of the sentences caught my attention. She said, “Do we stick God in a church in lieu of letting Him stay at our house?” How often do we do this; we go to church, compartmentalize God into a short time slot on Sunday mornings (if we bother to even go to church), and then we go about our lives. We might attend a church function or donate at a benefit but that’s how we want it. We want it on our terms. We want to go to God rather than inviting Him into our lives—and I mean wholeheartedly into our lives. We want to go to the soup kitchen, not have someone in need come knocking at our door. We want to go on missions trips to others, not invite refugees into our homes. We want to be hospitable and like Christ; as long as we are comfortable with it. We do not want our boundaries between church and home crossed. We don’t want our spiritual lives crossed with our personal lives. How messed up have we gotten?
Jesus was the absolute expert in getting into people’s lives. He wouldn’t allow there to be just church time and personal time. And, He definitely would not stand for false religiousness. He ruined the boundaries. He broke the rules. Remember Zacchaeus, the wee little man? He was a tax collector, and the holy people didn’t associate with them. Tax collectors were often cheaters and liars, collecting more tax than was required and keeping the extra for themselves. Jesus didn’t play by these norms. He didn’t allow people to stay in their comfortable little boxes. Jesus saw Zacchaeus up in the tree waiting to catch a glimpse of Jesus so Jesus called out to him, and told Zacchaeus that He was going to Zacchaeus’s house for dinner!
I think we often overlook the fact that it was probably not always comfortable for the people involved to have Jesus invite himself over to their house. While I’m sure they were excited to have Jesus in their home, Jesus did get into their business! I’m sure there were many times when people wanted to shut the door and not allow Him in. They wanted to maintain their privacy and not be questioned. They wanted to stay in their comfort zone.
Jesus does not call us to a life of comfort and ease. Many times full out ministry necessitates being uncomfortable. How do we truly love others unless we let some of the guards down? How do we truly connect if we never ask the uncomfortable questions that open the way for real dialogue? Are we willing to get uncomfortable in order to be more like Christ?
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We think of creativity as something that we either have or we don’t. We think of children with crayons and potters at their wheels—but why do we reduce it and simplify it like this? Why do we act like creativity only affects one area of our life and if we aren’t in a field that we consider to be creative, why do we think we don’t need creativity?
We are the only creatures on the planet gifted with creativity. There is something special about that! As Artificial Intelligence gets more and more sophisticated, the demand for mundane jobs to handle simple tasks will start to disappear. We are coming into a time when cultivating our creativity will be more important than ever. It will be what sets us apart.
Even more than that however, utilizing and cultivating our creativity is a large way we achieve pure enjoyment in this life. I know people who think they don’t have a creative bone in their body, and some who even think they don’t need creativity! We use creativity way more than we think we do. We use it to problem solve and we use it to make things that don’t traditionally fall into the “creative” basket. We use it to derive contentment and joy in our lives.
I think the problem might be how we think about creativity. We need to stop thinking about it as if it can be compartmentalized and shut off from the other areas of our lives. Instead, we need to think of creativity as a way of enhancing the other areas of our lives. We need to expand what we think of as art and start to enjoy creating, dreaming and playing for its own sake and for the joy it bring us—not solely for the outcome these things produce in the physical sense. Below are several books I have loved when it comes to cultivating creativity.
A Million Little Ways by Emily P. Freeman
In A Million Little Ways Ms. Freeman says we need to see our lives through a more artistic lens. We need to stop the inner critic inside our minds and enjoy the fact that all of us, from engineers to janitors, were put on this earth to create in some way, shape, or form. We need to stop thinking that we couldn’t do … fill in the blank.
The Creative Habit by Thyla Thrawp
The Creative Habit by Ms.Thrawp reminded me of Steven King’s On Writing in that she does not believe in a creative block just as Mr. King does not believe in writer’s block. In this book, Ms. Thrawp offers a variety of ways to get yourself unstuck and to inspire your creativity and ways to get your creativity flowing. She shares many examples from her life when she was stuck, on a deadline, and had to get unstuck very quickly!
Called to Create by Jordan Raynor
In Called to Create Mr. Raynor gives biblical context as to why we should follow the urges of our heart and go create. Mr. Raynor also gives examples of how feeling called to create, as an entrepreneur or otherwise, is just as God-honoring as being called to be a pastor or a missionary. He shares how small companies started by solo entrepreneurs have made a big impact in the world. If you are feeling the urge to create a company or business, on whatever scale, don’t dismiss it! God may have a job specifically in mind for you!
If you decide to pick up any of these books, I hope you will feel inspired! Remember creating and creativity isn’t just about the outcome—it is about the enjoyment we derive from the process!
Then the angel spoke to the women. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying.
Matthew 28: 5-6 NLT
Last week my parents had to put down one of the cats we have had since I was in high school; she had a good life, but still we hated to lose her. Even though I don’t live there anymore, I still keep thinking about how a week ago we still had Gertie with us. … That’s how it goes, isn’t it? I remember when we lost my grandfather, how I couldn’t believe that just 24 hours ago he had been with us, then 48 hours, then a week, then a month… Time keeps going but we never get our loved ones back on this side of eternity.
I imagine that’s how the disciples felt the day Jesus was crucified. They had just had the Passover meal with Him the night before—how was He now hanging on the cross? Did they feel silly for arguing about who would be first in Heaven? Did they feel betrayed because what kind of Savoir allows Himself to be killed? I think about the three disciples that were with Him in the garden (Peter, James and John)—were they beating themselves up that they hadn’t been able to stay awake in the garden the night before with Jesus? And Peter, oh especially overly enthusiastic Peter, who had declared that he loved Jesus, that he would never forsake him. Before even a couple hours had gone by, Peter had denied him three times. How must he have felt watching the one he loved so much hang on that cross knowing that he had denied him!
The disciples must have counted the days, wandering around in a kind of shocked trance, not fully believing that Jesus was really gone. But then comes the miracle! Jesus didn’t stay dead! Can you imagine having Mary run up to you shouting that she had seen Jesus! That’s the news they had longed for but no one rises from the dead! Still they followed her and found the tomb empty!
It always surprises me that the disciples were so slow to believe when, I mean, this stuff was foretold to them in their scriptures—and by Jesus! Still, we are human, we are familiar with the natural rhythms of this earth, and the natural order of things is that the dead stay dead. But Jesus is not natural. He is not of this earth. He is King of Kings, Lord of Heaven and Earth—and not confined to the rules of this world!
Let us rejoice this Easter in the knowledge that we serve a savoir that death cannot control and that because of Him, those who choose to serve Him, never have to say goodbye for forever.
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