And also Netflix. When I first started my blog I did not have it.
Hmm.
That probably deserves a closer look but I don't want to do that today.
On to memes. I'm not sure if I can blog without them anymore. I've started sending them to people on their birthdays. Here are some of the *ahem* more appropriate birthday memes I've sent.
Then you have your everyday memes that you send to your friends.
Lastly there are driving memes you send to your sister while she is a passenger in a vehicle driven by your dad. The first one accurately describes his driving method, the second does not.
The last one is no meme but a screenshot of maybe one of the grossest alerts WGAL has ever sent.
Chicken Sludge.
Moving on.
My summer has been full of all the things, as I'm sure yours has as well. Connecting with friends and family.
Gardening (or as I like to call it "dirt therapy").
Cutting flowers and arranging bouquets. I seriously cannot get enough of the vibrant color, the exquisite shapes, the pure joy of the simple things.
Can we just take a moment (or the rest of this post) to talk about wildflowers? Back in March (while my sister and I were on vacation in Georgia and it was blizzarding at home) I came across a Facebook post that said Cheerios would send you a packet of wildflower seeds as part of a bring back the bees movement. So I signed up. And then my dear friend, Adrianne, got married the same month and gave wildflower seed packets as wedding favors. When it was warm enough to plant the seeds in the ground I did so, but not without some skepticism.
I hate skepticism.
I remember dumping the wildflower seeds out in the palm of my hand and marveling at the different shapes, dry and brown now, wondering what they would become. And then that ugly little voice.
"They probably won't even bloom."
But hope tells that voice to shut the heck up. And I poked holes in the dirt, stuck these little dried up bits in, poured water on top and made mud.
I kept pouring water on every day, making the dirt wet, waiting on some green to show.
And then it did.
I cannot tell you how delighted little green shoots make me feel. It borders on ridiculous, really. But that's kinda how I live my life.
Bordering on ridiculous.
Or leaping wildly over the line.
Balance is not my strong suit.
Anyway, back to wildflowers.
I watched the green get taller and taller, wondering what would eventually bloom. And I was not disappointed.
This is a photo of the first day that gorgeous pink and white poppy looking thing (does someone know exactly what it is?) bloomed. When I saw it, I literally gasped out loud. It was so beautiful, delicate, and brave I could hardly stand it.
It feels like life, right?
Have you ever felt like someone shoved you in a hole and dumped dirt on you? And then poured water over top so you were not only in a dirty, dark, cramped space but now you were wet as well?
It's an uncomfortable place to be, to put it mildly.
Then, to make it worse, you break open.
So now you are dirty, dark, cramped, wet, and broken.
But then something curious happens. You start to grow. Somehow life begins to come forth. And now the water that made you wet and uncomfortable is life giving. You push up, up, up out of the dirt.
Then, sunshine.
Is there anything like it?
Fresh air.
How glorious.
Vast blue skies, puffy white clouds.
Incredible.
You grow and grow and then one day, what's this? You bloom.
You are glorious, breathtaking.
Life is a struggle sometimes, isn't it?
But I serve a God who brings beauty from ashes. In the struggle, in the hard times, that is what I cling to. And I pray that I would live my life in a beautiful and brave way.
That even if all around me seems lifeless, I would cling to the hope and life that is Jesus.
"...to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes..."
