Fix You by Coldplay

I ♥ this song.

Anyway

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centered;
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God;
It was never between you and them anyway.

~ Mother Teresa

Face the worst in the world with the best in yourself. ~ Ruthie

An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. ~ Mahata Ghandi

It takes courage to be the author of your life. ~ Nicholas Lore

Soul Care

So the last time I posted, I mentioned that I needed to get to the garden center to purchase my flowers and to begin gardening. I’m happy to report that I finally made it to the garden center yesterday. Yes indeed. Can you believe it?  No more procrastination and I have to say, it felt so good to scratch that off my To-Do-List. I was there before the noon hour and had such a delightful time. Seriously, I think this garden center is my new favorite place on planet earth. I get lost in such beauty. And yesterday, I had the loveliest time getting lost. This garden center is conveniently located 15 minutes from my home and sits on a 40 acre farm. I feel blessed to have this little sliver of heaven so near to me.  Thank you God! ; )

I sorta knew what I wanted to purchase but I took my time looking around, taking a few photos and admiring the large variety of flowers this garden center had to offer. After purchasing my flowers, I spent the entire afternoon gardening. It was such a wonderful experience, as it always is. Even though it was super humid and pretty hot out, I loved every delicious minute because I was doing something that fed my soul. Gardening for many of us is wonderful therapy. And as an added plus, I had music playing in the back round, thanks to my portable Bose SoundDock. I felt super alive and energized digging and planting my new flowers and then dreaming about what they might look like in the next several weeks.

Spending so many hours outside in nature yesterday satisfied my soul in a way I had missed last summer. Last year, I had some health issues and spent the summer not feeling too well which later led to surgery so I spent an additional 6 weeks recovering from that. All that to say, that I missed precious and sacred time tending to my flowers and spending countless of hours outside breathing in fresh air, standing in the sunshine and experiencing serenity in nature.

Yesterday marked the beginning of what will soon be a lovely and routine time outdoors as I care for the flowers I carefully planted. I believe the reason I love being outdoors and spending time in nature and caring for flowers is because it satisfies my soul. I believe our Maker created us with a desire for soul satisfaction. And mostly for me, and I hope for you too, that’s something I experience through God and with God and in my relationships, and in the connections I make and without question, in beauty and in nature for sure. I believe God meets us in nature. There's so much beauty in nature, breath-taking beauty. When I'm nurturing something from God's earth, it does something to me on the inside. It makes me feel really good. I feel calm. I feel happy and in that moment, the world feels right. It nurtures my soul which, while invisible to the outer world, is a very real part of me. It's who I am. It's my life-force, my energy, my essence. It's whats fuels everything I do. And because of that, taking care of my inner-life, nurturing my soul, makes sense. Nurturing my inner-life is just as important as my outer-life. Soul satisfaction is something we can’t live without. We feel dead without it. If we don’t find healthy and constructive ways to satisfy our souls, we'll look for it in not so healthy ways.

Tuesday, June 21^st marks the first day of summer. That’s two days from today and I’m thrilled that its finally going to be here because summer for me marks copious amounts of time outdoors. Within the next two weeks, I have plans to get to my first Cubs game of the season and two days after that, I’ll be meeting friends for a summer picnic and concert at Ravinia, another little slice of heaven on planet earth.

So here’s to summer! … and to satisfying our souls in healthy ways that make us feel rich, happy and alive.

Until next time …

~Ruthie

Plant something today that will feed someone many months or many years from now. Plant something today, because you’ve feasted on someone else’s carefully planted seeds, seeds that bloomed into nourishment and kept you alive and wide-eyed.  ~Shauna Neiquist

Asiatic Lillies

Zinnia's

Pink Hydrangea's

My Zinnia's and Begonia's

My Red Impatiens

Red Impatiens

My new solar lights

And in the end, a happy hour and a happy heart. ♥

Relationships

Over the lunch hour today I was looking at some photos that a couple of my friends posted on Facebook. They posted pictures of the flowers they planted over the weekend. They were gorgeous, colorful, beautiful flowers. I have to admit, this made me feel incredibly guilty. Just this morning I was reviewing my To-Do-List as I always do first thing in the morning and questioned why for two weekends in a row now, I’ve procrastinated and haven’t made my way over to the garden center to purchase my flowers. Honestly, I believe it’s because I suffer from the "one more thing” disease. Or is it a syndrome? No, I believe its a disease. I tell myself: “I’ll just do one more thing and then I’ll go to the garden center.” I bet I say that a hundred times and before I know it, I either run out of time or energy or I get hungry or the sun comes out and I decide that I would much rather bask in the sun soaking in some vitamin D before the sun sets or before summer is over. Seriously, the summer season hasn’t officially begun yet and I’m already worried about how I’ll miss it if I don't stand in the sunshine the minute the sun shines its glorious face in my corner of the world. I know I need to get to the garden center.  I must get there. In fact, I know I will get there, just not now, not today but perhaps over the weekend???  Wish me luck and pray for rain! ; )

And speaking of flowers, I think relationships are a lot like flowers. Some relationships are like perennials. They’re permanent and you can always count on them. No matter where the wind blows, you can always count on these types of relationships. Others are like annuals. They last just for a season. And yet both bring beauty, depth and color to our lives. And what's universal I believe is that we’ve all experienced a little bit of both in life. I also believe that relationships are formed based on timing and what people need from each other and can give each other at the time. I believe that’s why two people can come together and connect so quickly and sometimes on so many different levels: conversationally, emotionally, and / or romantically.  Sometimes it lasts and sometimes it doesn’t but there is always something to be gleaned from the experience. And no matter how it ends, I try to remember the good and relish the gift that it was. I hope you will too.  I hope we all do.

Yours faithfully,

Ruthie

I Hope This Gets To You

I love art. I love creativity.

And I absolutely LOVE this!

Love, Be Kind, Forgive

Yesterday after I left the office, I ran a couple of errands before I headed home. During my last stop, I began to get hungry and decided to pop into a local restaurant for some soup. If you live in Chicago, I know what you’re thinking. You’re probably thinking: Who has soup when its 90 degrees outside? I guess I do. When I walked into the restaurant, I immediately noticed a beautiful young mom with three small children. The mom was probably in her early thirties and she had long gorgeous blonde hair. Her two oldest were darling little girls in matching baby blue and white dresses. They were about 3 and 5 years old, with blonde hair too, donning pony tales with striking blue eyes. I then spotted her baby son, also beautiful. He was sitting in his carrier; happy as a clam and appeared to be 4 months old. This young mom and her three children eventually made their way to a table and after a while I could tell that they were waiting for someone. Then along came her husband and then I saw the most beautiful display of affection!

Her husband walked in and walked with purpose toward his wife and children to greet them. And the way he walked over to his wife and looked at her and the way she smiled and looked at her husband was amazing. Based on where I was sitting, I could see her face the most. Her eyes and face lit up when she saw her husband. She was beaming as he approached her. And when he got to the table, she stood up and just wrapped her arms around him and kept smiling really big. He hugged her tight and they kissed. Then he kissed his two little girls hello and made his way over to the baby to greet him too. Shortly after he said sweet words to his baby son, the wife hugged him again as if to say: “I’m so glad you’re here. I love you. You matter to me. I’m glad we’re a family.” I think that’s what that hug communicated. Her eyes lit up and she just kept smiling and she seemed so very happy to be in the presence of her husband. This woman had a really sweet spirit about her. Seeing this beautiful display of love and affection between this couple moved me. I have never seen anything quite like that, especially between a couple who has three children under the age of five. In fact it moved me so much that when I finished my soup, I approached their table to share my thoughts with them. Right before I reached the table, the oldest little girl who was sitting next to her daddy, hugged his neck and said: “I love you daddy.” Uhhh, that melted my heart.

When I arrived at their table, I said hello and shared with them that I was so blessed by their interaction and affection for each other and told them that the way they greeted each other was the most tender and beautiful display of affection I’ve seen in a really long time especially between a couple with three little ones. They both smiled and thanked me for taking the time to stop by to share that. I told them it was my pleasure, said goodbye with a smile and walked away.

As I drove away from the restaurant last night, I wondered, and asked God why I noticed this family. I wondered if God was revealing or teaching me something. I wondered if there was a lesson, something to be learned. Oh how I wondered because what I witnessed last night was so beautiful, rare and extraordinary. It’s not something I see every day. Then a few minutes later, I turned on the radio, tuned into 90.1fm and heard the commentator quote a verse from the Bible. It was Ephesians 4:32.

Be kind to each other, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you. ~ Ephesians 4:32 (NLT)

And then suddenly I remembered that in the book of Ephesians, chapter 5 to be exact, it says: Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands. Husbands love your wives. He who loves his wife loves himself.

I think that couple in the restaurant love and honor each other in a manner that is pleasing to God. I hope I never forget what I saw yesterday and I hope I never forget and always put into practice what the Bible says in the book of Ephesians chapters 4 and 5.

If you’re married and reading this, I hope this story inspires you to love and honor your spouse. And if you’re not married, I hope it will inspire you to live out what the apostle Paul admonishes in the book of Ephesians when you do marry.  And whether we’re married or not, I hope this inspires each of us to love always, to be kind and tender-hearted toward each other and to forgive each other, just as God forgives us.

Love and blessings to you today,

xx, Ruthie

Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference.

Words!

Words that make me happy this morning: coffee, sunshine, books, pajamas, God, reading, discovery, revelation, serenity, peace, family, love, grace and truth.

 

Words have the power to change a life. Yours, Mine. Ours. ~ Ruthie