Love Is. Broken Beads.

In the above photo is a gift I was given today. I want to tell you more about this gift and why its so special. I receive many of these ‘gifts’ all as unique and all just as special…

As some of you may know I visit an elderly lady weekly. I met her through a Red Cross Volunteer scheme and what a blessing it has been. It fills me with so much joy and the friendships I have since made are nothing but treasures.

Today I visited Olga again and shortly before leaving she dug into her bag and pulled out an old vicks container full of beads, many broken, and many covered in food.  Before this moment she had asked me if I liked craft and if I did then she had a gift for me. I’m not overly keen on craft but said I did as I knew how much it filled her with joy to give me a gift. So I accepted the gift. 

She often gives me these ‘useless items’,  a watch with only half its face, a calendar from 1992 and once she tried to give me an old lamp but due to its size (and the fact I wasn’t quite sure where it came from … did she steal it?) I declined. The one and only time I declined.

I always accept her gifts. Always. I always accept them because I know it’s her way of saying thank you. I know that as she has hardly no money and never leaves her nursing home she has very little to gift. I know that each time she gifts me with one of her ‘treasures’ she is really gifting me with little pieces of her heart. And I know that every time I accept her gifts it’s my way of saying you’re welcome, and you have a special place in my heart too. 

Love comes in many forms. Broken beads with food stuck on them included.

Bread Crust Can Bring Joy

What I loved today was noticing we had left over bread crusts. I was taking my boys out anyway and decided last minute to take the crusts with us so we could feed the ducks on the way. Simple things. Simple things like feeding ducks breadcrumbs can bring joy to not only the ducks (who were extremely grateful for the feed) but to my boys who felt delight in doing so.

Life really is simple. We only complicate it. Children do not need fancy toys, games or expensive trips away they only need you and us to show them that life is already exciting and that all they’ll ever need is here <3

What The Carrot Taught Me

Halfway through eating a carrot today I stopped and looked at it. Really looked at it and noticed something I had never noticed before. I was amazed by its beauty. Within the carrot on its inside was the most beautiful star shape formation.

It reminded me today to stop. To take notice. It showed me how little I notice in life and how I'm always in a rush get somewhere, to be somewhere I'm not.

I realised today that when I'm eating most the time I'm thinking about something else. What to eat next or what I will do when I'm finished.  When I'm driving I'm never thinking about the drive itself and being in the car but on where I'm going and how soon I will get there.

I realised today that for me it's always about there and never about here. The carrot today reminded me that beauty is always found now in the moment, never there in the future. The 'there' in the future is always in your head and no joy can ever be felt there.

I Can Provide

This morning my youngest was whinging at me. Crying and pulling at my legs and feet whilst I was trying to eat breakfast. It was hard not to get annoyed. I knew why he was like this too. He was hungry. He wanted to eat also. So I quickly finished my breakfast as fast as I could and fed him. 

When I was feeding him I thought about all those mothers and parents who are unable to feed their children. Who have no food to feed them and how hard it must be to watch a child of yours suffer in pain and hunger.  It was then that I felt such gratitude that I am able to provide for my children and will never have to watch them go hungry.

Today I send all my love to those who don’t have the choice. Who watch their children on a daily basis suffer in pain and hunger.

Born to Bloom

Have you ever thought deeply about a flower and the magic behind it?

Today I did.

Looking at a half opened bud I wandered in awe how its magnificence comes to be. One day its a closed bud, shut tight. The next day and the days that follows it open to its full beauty and potential.

What causes it to open? How does the flower know when to bloom and open itself to life?

The answer is, it doesn't, yet it does.

I personally believe that the power, intelligence and life force that flows through the flower causing it to open is the very same life flow that runs through us all. We are all as magnificent and wanderous as the flower. All we need to do is let life run through us so we can open to our own full potential, our glory, our own miracle filled life!

A lesson I too must remind myself at times. I admit, I am guilty of trying to stop the flow of life. I do this in many ways, one way is by refusing to accept the situation as it is. For example I will run, avoid or convince myself altogether that what is happening shouldn't. That  my way is the only way. Wrong. There is another way. Lifes way, and some may say Gods way.

Sometimes we just need to step aside to our own lives and let something bigger than us, more powerful than us take over. That is true surrender and when you surrender you are trusting in that very same power that made you come into existence. You were once a embryo, then a baby,  a child, and now an adult and all this magically happened without you doing a thing.

Life doesn't have to be hard. We only make it that way.

 Life is simple if you allow it to be. The flower blooms whether someone is looking or not, whether its a good day or bad. The flower doesn't care if the others in the bunch have already bloomed or if its not as brightly coloured as the bud next to it. It just blooms. It blooms because that is what it was born to do.

You too were born to bloom.  Trust that you will because there is no other choice.

It Isn't Always About Me.

I had a list of things to do today. All involving me. Your probably familiar with such lists. On it was a visit to the shops, cleaning the house, call/visit a friend, facebook time, etc. All these activities were about me and I was either going to drag my kids along with me or expect them to entertain themselves while I attended to the list.

I then stopped and thought to myself  ...

Is this all important?

I immediately answered and found myself saying a huge NO.

What is important is my boys. They are my life. They are mine on loan to guide in this life, to enjoy, to help grow into men. They are not mine to drag around and 'accompany' my life as a sauce does a meatpie.

It was in that moment I decided to devote the day to them. I asked my 4 year old what he wanted to do. He said he wanted to draw. So today I drew. I didn't call that friend, I didn't clean out that cupboard I had promised myself I would and facebook survived without me.

I learnt today. I learnt again that its the simple things that matter in this life. We often make big lists of all things we should be doing. But is it important? Most the time its not. What is important is the memories you make and create not the goals you achieve. That is what I learnt today.

* The photo you see is one of the pictures I drew today with my 4 year old. My boys often draw and give me their creations. Today  I gave my drawing to my 4 year old  and  he  put it here on display. Bless that boys heart <3

I love Silence

Silence is music to my ears. Which is funny since silence isn't music at all. In fact its no sound. But I love it.

As a mother of three young children - all boys. I crave silence. Silence is where I find my peace. It relaxes me, rejuvenates me and fills me with a sense of calm like nothing else.  Silence is a massage for my ears.

If you ever get a chance to sit in silence and just be then do. I assure you it will be music to your ears. Music your ears never knew they could hear. 

Teeth. Today I loved them.

 

Today whilst driving and eating an apple I all of a sudden became extremely grateful and aware of my teeth. 

Unit now I had never really given my teeth much thought. I just go about my day, eating, talking and doing what I do and the whole while my teeth are right there with me. So today as I chomped down hard on my super crunchy apple I thought of my teeth and how I loved them and what they do. But mostly I loved that I had teeth.

Its the simple things as I say and without my simple things such as my teeth, life would be a hell of a lot different and not to mention more difficult. So today I was grateful for my teeth and the very fact I had some.

What were you grateful for today?