We moved into our new house. A cute little ranch style house, complete with an octagonal wooden structure encircling a fire pit. The wooden posts stood out of the ground, with another wooden post laid horizontally over it and then wooden seats hung from the top one and hanging down between the other two posts. Growing up each post was a lovely vining plant with a cute little orange bloom known as trumpet vine because, well, it looks like a trumpet!
We were delighted with our lovely fire pit area, especially with the trumpet vine in all its blossoming glory. That is, until we started seeing shoots of trumpet vine way over on the other side of our house, completely separate from the fire pit area. We mowed it over and did not think much of it. Then I started seeing shoots coming up between the boards on our front porch…and sticking to the side of our house….and trying to climb underneath our siding… That vine was no longer pretty! The next spring we hacked down all the remaining trumpet vine, spraying the stumps of the vine with weed killer. It mostly worked, new growth still sprang from the edges of the stump that hadn’t been sprayed, and we looked out before mowing to our grass….and standing twice as tall above our grass, we saw new shoots of the trumpet vine.
The battle against our trumpet vine is still ongoing, we are slowly making progress. But it never ceases to amaze me how throughout the natural world God has sprinkled metaphors for the spiritual world as well. Our sin if left unchecked manifests itself in our hearts, spreading and taking over faster than any good traits do. We think it’s ok because we are the only ones that know it is there. However, if left unchecked we start to see signs of the sin popping up in unexpected ways- why did we snap at our coworker? Was it really because we are still bitter over a similar situation at our last job? We can hide the sin, pretend it’s not there, only to have something happen, and then we realize that the sin we thought we had pruned back, safely out of sight from the world, has sprung up anew in a place we least suspected. Instead it needs to be pulled out of lives by the root- a job only God can do.
We think we have killed off all the trumpet vine and then we see a new shoot trying to take over and strangle the life out of plants and shrubs that we want very much to survive! So we go again and try to eradicate any trumpet vine that is still lurking about in our yard. I am so sick of spraying and fighting with the trumpet vine. How glad I am that God does not tire of pruning the sin in my life. Does He grow weary and say to me as I do the trumpet vine, “You again? I thought we just went through this!” No, He gently and patiently shapes me and molds me so little by little I start to resemble more and more of Him and His nature.
So often our decor is in need of a little “umpf”. I mean, all the decor staples are great: moss balls, twine balls, books, vases, etc., but sometimes our decor needs some life to bring it to life, as it were. It needs something real. Something like flowers! Flowers help to add color, bring life so our decor doesn’t look so staid, and add interest by filling out vases we may be using in our decor. But, there’s a dilemma—do we use fresh or fake?!
Fake Flowers
Fake flowers (or faux flowers if we want to sound fancy and up a scale) are nice because there are some gorgeous, very realistic ones on the market. The downside is that nice faux flowers can be quite pricey and if you aren’t sure they are something you want to use for years it might be better not to splurge on them. On the other hand, fresh flowers can be found quite affordably, they last for a while, and can even lend a pleasant aroma to the room. The downside is they don’t last forever and, therefore, every 7-10 days will require switching out. For me this can become a bit of a chore and, quite frankly, I don’t want to have to do that much upkeep all the time.
Third option
There is, however, a third option that I do not hear talked about nearly enough—dried flowers! Dried or preserved flowers are a great way to, ironically enough, add life to your decor. Since they have been preserved, you can typically count on them lasting you 1-3 years so you don’t have to worry about looking over, 15 minutes before guests arrive for that dinner party, and realize that you have a vase full of dead, drooping flowers! And, you won’t have to have that conversation with yourself of whether your fake flowers look fake.
Preserved Flowers
Another reason to love preserved flowers—they are so versatile. A bunch of dried lavender lends itself well to a midcentury modern feel. Some dried flowers in a milk pitcher affects a country farmhouse air. Add any colorful dried flower and watch your bohemian/eclectic decor crackle and pop with life!
There are many different ways to incorporate dried flowers and the other nice thing about them is that no two are exactly alike! Since these are real flowers, grown, cut and dried, they include all the abnormalities and inconsistencies found in nature, which to my mind, makes them even better!
I have talked about using preserved flowers in vases, but get creative! I have an old window that has dried flowers preserved inside. You could also scatter a few blooms on a tray containing a vignette. (Unless you have cats—in that case skip this unless you want to have dried petals floating throughout your house. Not that I would know from personal experience. . . .) The point is that the possibilities are endless! What a fun, but uncommon element to add to your decor.
Where to find these flowers that will transform your decor? I found mine at a local specialty store called, “Roxanne’s Dried Flowers;” so do a little research, see if you have a store near you, and make a little field trip out of visiting it! If all else fails, like everything these days, there are a lot of options online, and on Etsy too.
Parker J Palmer, Author of Let Your LIfe Speak, had been on the fast track for success. He had graduated at the top of his class, went to a good college and was on track for a tenured position at Georgetown University when he suddenly realized- he didn’t really want to do that. He started changing careers, first one thing then another, none of them lasting that long or feeling like the right thing for him. He then started feeling like a failure; he had graduated college with the brightest of futures in front of him and now here he was living a very ordinary life and not making much progress towards anything since he didn’t know what he wanted.
Eventually he finds himself led to a Quaker retreat home, a place to seek God’s will and try to hear His voice. During his time there he is offered a job as president of a college. He is ready to take the job but he decided to discuss this offer with a group of Quakers that he has grown close to. One of his friends asks him what he would like about the job. Parker starts listing the things he wouldn’t like- having to speak on behalf of the college to the media, all the obligatory events he would have to go to, etc. His friend gently breaks in and reminds Parker that he was supposed to be listing the things he would like about the job. Parker then has to admit, both to himself and his friends, that in fact, the thing he likes most about the job is the title and the paycheck. It then becomes clear that this is not what Parker should do.
This moment serves as a pivotal point in which Parker realizes he needs to consider what is most important to him in a job. He realizes that he needs to look at what he’s always liked to do, and how he can utilize that in a career. He thought he wanted to teach because he loves books, learning and sharing information. What he ends up realizing is that through writing and activism he can use those same gifts and abilities.
Parker then looks back over his life and realizes that there were small arrows from the time he was a small boy on pointing him in this direction. He focused on where he could easily apply his gifts to make a good living. In the end however this left him feeling empty and purposeless. He then had to go back and look for all the little clues from his life. He had to let his life speak about finding his vocation.
There are many ways to use our gifts. So often we focus on either the way in which our gifts could be used most lucratively, or the most common way in which people with our gifts typically use them- even if there is another field in which our gifts can be used that we are more passionate about. We worry that taking the way less traveled will lead to failure. I think it is worth pointing out that people are generally most successful when they focus their life work on areas that they are passionate about. I believe we let the fear of it being hard to make a living at a specific vocation scare us away from trying it. But what is going to be harder- spending your days going to a job that you don’t like and have to force yourself to go to each day; or making a living from an area where it can be challenging, but in which you are so passionate that you wake up each day excited to get to work? And let us not forget that the top tier in any field can be financially successful. If you are truly passionate and driven in your chosen field I believe you will eventually succeed- although it may get very hard and take longer than you wish. Avoiding one’s greatest passions will never lead to a fulfilled life. It is rather the dedication day after day in an area in which we are truly passionate that will lead us to the most fulfilled life, and allow us to make the impact that we were put on this earth to make.
I challenge you to look at your life, what are the clues pointing you to a certain path? In what ways has your life “spoken” to you? What have you always loved? How did you spend your free time as a child? When you are free of obligations what do you find yourself doing or wanting to do? We have one life on this earth and in the words of Mary Oliver, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” Listen and let your life speak to you.
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For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Psalm 139:13
“I knit you together in your mother’s womb.” I have always loved the phraseology of this verse; the idea of being knit together, woven together intricately. I have tried my hand at knitting only enough to realize how complicated it actually is. How knowledgeable a good knitter must be to turn that unruly ball of yarn into something of substance and value; a beautiful wrap, a functional hat, or cozy mittens. Beyond the myriad of stitches, there is also needle size, yarn type, and the amount of tension held on the yarn that all play a part in the finished piece, any inconsistency will affect the desired outcome. How intimately connected the knitter and yarn becomes in the process.
How exquisite that we start our lives just as intertwined with God, being pieced together, slowly taking the shape of the person magnificently stitched together by His hand, that God has envisioned for us to be since the world began. To fill a hole in this world that is us shaped- no one else can fill it.
My one friend has a child, the rest of us talk about the children we will have eventually- our someday children. Little babies that will turn into children, then kids, teenagers, then full fledge adults. People. Individuals that came from within our own bodies but are wholly and beautifully their own. We don’t know if they will be doctors or teachers, lawyers or mechanics, politicians or retail workers. They will be their own people. Living their own lives. Created by God, stitched together to do His work; if they submit their lives to Him. Filling a spot in the world that no one else can.
As the world began God already had figured out the part we would play in it- where he would drop us into history. He knew every detail about us; hair color, eye color, and quirks in our personalities. He loved us from the very beginning. Even more than my friend loves her new baby. Even more than we can comprehend. We are loved, meticulously designed, and put here for a purpose, on purpose. We need only submit and turn our lives over to Him to fill the niche in this life that He created us for, so very carefully, stitch by stitch, until we were at last complete.
Summer is basically over- I am fighting the urge to cry about this fact. My first reaction is always to bemoan how quickly the summer has gone- but fall is lovely too! There is still a lot to enjoy outdoors before the weather changes. And there will be cool mornings and crisp evenings to enjoy both outside and inside. Regardless of where you will be enjoying this transition time here are 3 cozy mystery series to transition you from summer to fall.
Lighthouse Library Mystery Series by Eva Gates
Maybe start this series while it is still summer! This series is set in a fictional town in the outer banks, in an old light house that has been converted into a library. Lucy is enjoying her brand new dream job at the LightHouse Library, just getting familiar with the job and the townspeople. It is an exciting time as the library will be hosting a traveling exhibit of first edition Jane Austen books. Things go from great to terrible however when someone ends up dead during the party. The situation only gets worse as one by one books front the traveling exhibit start to disappear. This catapults Lucy’s job position from one of security to a very tenuous nature indeed.
I loved the small town feel embodied in this book, the discussion of Jane Austen’s work and the coastal setting.
Emily was just your average English professor at a small college when her great aunt dies and she suddenly finds herself the heiress of a large estate- but there are some suspicious things surrounding her aunt’s death… Emily tries to ignore all these things that seem not quite right but when there is another death Emily can no longer ignore her intuition that all is not as it seems.
I also enjoyed that there are a lot of references to Jane Austen and her works in this book- the English professor side of Emily peaks out throughout the books pages. If it’s been a while since you’ve picked up one of the classics you may find yourself inspired to do so after reading one of the books in this series!
Placed in a quaint, coastal Oregon town, and taking place on an estate known as windy hill there are a lot of references to the stormy ocean that makes you want to simultaneously take a walk along the beach and curl up in a cozy chair.
The quaint setting of this series pulled me in right away. Set in New Hampshire, book town is a tourist attraction where all the shops are specially store dedicated to one specific genre. The main character, Trisha Miles, owns and operates a mystery book store that further specializes in vintage mysteries. Alas, it seems that all of Trisha’s years as a mystery enthusiast were preparing her for all the sleuthing she will have to do as mystery after mystery shows up on her front door, earning her the title of village jinks.
I love the settings of these books. There’s something about a town built around books, about the day to day life as a small business owner, and the quirky personalities of the characters that just draws the reader in. Current mysteries, classic mysteries, if you are a mystery lover that is in need of some additional titles to pick up then you will find your list of to be read titles refreshed after reading this! While I would not classify this series as a great work of fiction there is something cozy and comforting about this series- like having a chai latte on the first cool day of fall! And there are lots of mysteries sprinkled throughout the book that will have you pulling out your mixing bowls and baking something delicious to munch on as you read.
If you are looking for the next great American Novel, you’ll be disappointed in these books. However if you are looking for a book that keeps your attention and provides distraction from everyday life, then you’ll enjoy these. They are light, easy, fun reads! Each of these books will help to develop your interest in the classics and it will have you wanting to either pull out one of your favorite classics or pick up one of the classics that you have been meaning to read for years. Maybe you’ll even be motivated to pick up that one that you were supposed to read in high school but that you only read the notes on in order to pass the test. 😉 If you are looking for something light and enjoyable, fairly clean of offensive language, violence and explicit sex scenes, then take a look at the three cozy mystery series I have enjoyed, and that you just might too!
Quick reminder that this post contains affiliate links; that means if you click on the link I will make a small commission at no extra cost to you- it’s a way to support my blog! I will only ever share an affiliate link if I love the product and think that you just might love it too!
