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the journal

Both Humble and Happy

4/14/24

I have been feeling in a bit of a rut lately.  Kind of unsure of what life holds for me right now and wondering what the future will look like. Maybe it’s because I just had a birthday and that’s a naturally reflective time, I don’t know.  What I do know is that I don’t want to live my life in a place of stagnant reflection, always looking back. I want to look to the future, always moving forward toward a new goal, a new desire, a new hope and dare I say a new dream.






I am not necessarily talking about a great big something (although who knows, that isn’t out of the picture) but just taking steps toward the life I want to be living.  Not settling for the status quo, even if the status quo is not bad or even very good, there is always room to desire more. 


For so long that felt selfish and given the state of the world, more so now. Why do we think we are meant to shrink back and settle when God called us to life live ABUNDANTLY? You can be both humble and happy.






With age comes the realization that life goes by more quickly than we imagined and the days add up to weeks and months and years before you know it.


My hope is to make little changes daily that will move toward the life and therefore, legacy that I not only want others to remember me by, but one that brings me joy, a sense of purpose and dare I say happiness.






My Pastor said last week that the value of a Christian’s life is built over an entire lifetime. And since I woke up with breath in my lungs this morning, I would say that my time is still ticking. What better way to invite others to the Christian life than to do so with a happy heart in spite of life’s trials? I


In this world we will face troubles but…God holds our future.  Let’s live life to the fullest to the glory of God while we have the chance. The world sees enough grief. Let’s show them what an abundant, humble and happy life looks like.


Don't you agree?


xo Patty


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Quiet Morning in the Garden

4/1/24

 April is here. The rains have finally subsided and life is returning to the garden.



Everything looks springtime fresh.  The leaves emerging on the trees are the loveliest of greens and the blossoms on the fruit trees have started to drop revealing signs of an abundant harvest this summer.





The morning is quiet and still except for the sweet sounds of the birds singing and the trickling lull of the water fountain. 

 



My how April woos me. You, too?


xo, Patty


"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow.  They do not labor or spin."  Matthew 6:28


Watch my quiet morning in the garden on YouTube here...






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Preparing to Slow Down

10/9/23

I am trying my best to get things organized so that I will be ready for the slow down that cooler weather and less outdoor activity brings.  It's hard for me to enjoy baking and needlework when clutter abounds. 


My hope is to go through each room and address those areas where things seems to accumulate. The problem I have is that as I sort through the mess and place each item in its proper place I find another corner that needs to be addressed and my attention is averted to the new area, leaving the original task left unfinished. So my promise to myself is that I don't let the perpetual rabbit holes suck me in and that I stay focused on the task at hand.



Am I the only one with this problem? Let me give you an example of how this typically goes...

My cookbook nook is full of loose printed recipes that I have stacked on top of actual cookbooks because I didn't return them to their proper notebook after I used them. As I pull out my recipe binders I get the urge to take everything out and reorganize them by category in the new Pioneer Woman notebook that my sister in law gave me two Christmases ago,

So I spread the pages all over the dining room table and begin stacking them according to what the recipe is for.  As I hit the dessert section I stumble on a recipe for an apple crumble pie that would be perfect to take to my moms this week as we work on our sewing projects since I have a jar of apple pie filling that didn't seal properly in the refrigerator.

Then it hits me that I never put away the apple corer slicer that I used when I canned apple pie filling over the weekend with my grandboys. So I get up and head to the kitchen to put it away into my jam packed baking cupboard and remember that I promised my daughter she could have my extra baking pans and now I might as well separate those and get this cupboard organized while I'm at.

So now I pull everything out of the baking cupboard but decide I should make an inventory list of what I'm putting back in there so I head back to the messy dining room table after grabbing my household notebook and start a new section for baking pans and other useful cooking gadgets.

Then I notice that I never decorated or labeled my plain white organizational notebooks when I purchased them and think I should probably do that before I put them away in my nicely organized cookbook nook which of course I've forgotten about by this time. 

So I head into my craft area and select some pretty scrapbook paper and pull down a few baskets of crafting things and place them on the guest bed looking for my label machine.


So now after a couple of hours of "cleaning" my house looks messier than it did in the first place. Not only is my cookbook nook still not decluttered but now I can't see my dining room table and have baking pans all over the kitchen floor and baskets of craft tools stacked on the guest room bed. 


Of course, by this time it's time to start thinking about what's for dinner, just where we are going to eat it and where I can stack my baking pans so that I don't break my neck tripping over them as I cook.

Sound familiar? 

Tell me I'm not alone. Let me know what areas get you off track when you do organizing projects? Share it in the comments.

xo, Patty

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Fall Gardens and Second Chances

8/2/23

As I've been sorting through my fall garden seeds and reflecting on the successes and failures of my summer vegetable garden I am reminded once again of the blessing of second chances.


Gardening can be such a humbling experience.  You start out in the spring with all your fresh plant starts with such hope and so many plans for what you will do with the harvest you reap. You do your part and amend the soil, adding nutrients and sowing seeds into fertile ground. You tend to it with love, feed it when necessary and keep it well watered through the long hot days of summer.




And then an unexpected force of nature happens, a late freeze or a wicked heat wave and you lose a plant here and there.  You regroup, lower your expectations for the size of your harvest and you go on. And then a squirrel or raccoon or rat or gopher gets through the fence and helps himself to your entire tomato crop.

Just about now you are wondering what went wrong, what you could have done differently, will you bother trying again? 




And then you see that seed catalog that came in the winter that held so much hope for your summer garden and reach for the seeds that you ordered during the darkness of winter and remember that fall holds a second chance to start a new garden and reap a fresh harvest.





Life is like a garden in this way, we may do all the right things, tend to our lives and homes with all the love and devotion we are capable of and yet not reap the harvest we desire. Don't lose hope.  





Our God is a God of second chances and His mercies are new every morning.  He will not have us endure dark times without the promise of a greater future bounty. Trust his innate goodness and unending faithfulness.  Continue to plant seeds sown in love and hopeful anticipation.  You will reap a rich and satisfying harvest in the season God has appointed it for you.

If you are in a time of great abundance, thank God and give Him all the glory!

xo, Patty

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