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The Complex Joy of Flowers

      On my morning walk enjoying the brightness of all the blooming flowers around me washed by the recent rain,  I ponder the complex birth of the variety and the joy that flowers bring to all celebrations or tragedies in our life.  The memories that certain flowers bring at a memorial service and the smells that trigger the moments of time spent with those we love opens the heart to the joy of those occasions that only the beauty of flowers reflect.  Think about how when you smell certain flowers and what  memory you recall; perhaps it is a time of celebration or maybe a time of loss. This is the complex design of flowers created by God, each unique just like you with your own voice, your own fingerprints like no one else.

Then I wonder and remember how flowers a bring a special lift to those in the hospital, those in a nursing home, those in a home where moods of darkness dwells and just a bouquet puts serotonin in a spin and springs a feeling of happiness to ones heart.  A wedding, a birthday, an anniversary, a party, a dinner, a funeral, a grave, a just because occasion, these are a few of how flowers can give joy to sad time or a happy time.

These words written on my heart from Isaiah 40:7-8 “The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them.  Surely the people are grass.  The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”  Therefore send the flowers today for this moment is the moment of now and the next may not be.  Find your inspiration in the creator of all creation and give your art to the world who so needs it.  Write the note, smile and say hello, send the e-mail, make the call, send the text, paint the canvas, draw the picture, cook the special meal, sculpt whatever,  and love while you can.   Who knows when our time here will be up…..Be joy to someone today.

The painting above was inspired by the irises that grew on the driveway of the home where I spent 17 years raising my daughter.  They were planted by the previous owner who loved flowers by the evidence of all the azaleas, magnolia trees and bougainvilleas that were in full bloom when we bought the house.  These were the flowers of my childhood in Mississippi so this most definitely inspired me to buy that home.

If you have reach this part of reading this post I am sending you the best part of my heart today the part that knows you have something that someones needs to see, to hear, to eat, or to read that will encourage them onward to thoughts that can change their emotions to feel the wonder of joy all around and they to might even send the flowers….

Blessed I am to have the gift of seeing color.  Send me a comment as I am inspired by you who have found me here.

Martha

 

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Looking for inspiration in my own backyard…..

Looking for inspiration on a hot day in my part of the world today in the dog days of August with the temperature rising to 101.  As I am drinking my morning coffee on the patio in my backyard, I look up and see the screech owl sitting high in the tree.   Last July when our grandsons were visiting a pair of Northeastern screech owls took up residence in tree on our back patio.  They named them Winky and Blinky.  Most mornings my husband and I greeted them with  hellos as we shared our morning coffee.  They stayed almost a year and we now have their baby to greet.

 So instead of wishing for Winky and Blinky, the parents of our resident owl whom we named BJ (Blinky Jr) to return I am focusing my thoughts on the gift of their offspring.  The gift of the present always brings me to thoughts of gratefulness, wonder and dreams. Hopeful  that the inspiration will  be revealed on the next blank canvas.  Here I go setting up the easel and my palette with colors of the nature around me.   Mixing and blending then loading up the brush to place the first stroke on the canvas.

It has been said that art without spirit is no art at all.  The journey of the heart for me on this painting is to be one that will not only inspire those who see it but bring them a sense of joyful peace.

Make your next moment a blank canvas and fill it with your creative self and make a difference in your sphere of influence one stroke at a time.  Spread your joy to the brokenness and cracks in all of us.  You are more than enough and you will inspire others.

The painting below was inspired by the song  Colors of the Wind.  May it give you a sense of the colors in the wind next time you feel it on your skin.

Thankful,

Martha

 

 

 

 Colors of the Wind….by Martha Leeper