a world with both tulips & roses
April and May in Portland are still mostly cold and rainy, but we do get a few sunny beautiful days. The mixture of rain and sunshine brings beautiful flowers and Portlanders take their yard landscaping very seriously. Yards are filled with shrubs, vegetable gardens, and lots and lots of flowers. It’s one of my favorite things about living here. I love looking at all the different types of landscaping. Every day I walk or run the same path and get to see the same yards. It’s fun to see how the yards change from season to season. Flowers started blooming in April and it has been magical. My fondness for tulips in particular has grown deep after two springs in this city.
One of my favorite yards on my running path has a center circle of multicolored tulips. I have loved watching them bloom and they make me smile every time I pass. A couple weeks ago I noticed the barren rose bushes that lined the edge of the same yard. These barren, flowerless rose bushes stopped me in my tracks. I hadn’t notices the roses because I had been paying attention to the tulips. Tulips bloom in the spring. They bloom, we get to enjoy them for a season, then they wither and die until the next spring. Roses bloom in the summer, long after the tulips bloom and die away. The tulips have their season of glory then the roses have their season of glory. Neither take away from the beauty of other, it’s simply the season for one and not for the other. The beauty of the tulips doesn’t make the beauty of the roses less, one doesn’t take from the other.
These flowers touched a place deep inside of my body. The roses and tulips illustrated what my heart has been learning or really un-learning the last two years. My seasons have looked so much different than I expected. My life is truly nothing like I thought it would, but it is far more beautiful than I ever expected. For so long I watched others bloom and I would look upon them with envy. I wanted to bloom at the same time in the same way as those around me. But that’s not my story and that’s not my season. And thank goodness for that. Jesus is so good for making my seasons what they are and not what others are. May we all learn to see ourselves as tulips without comparing ourselves to the roses.
What I Read This Week:
This section is self explanatory. I love reading and I love sharing what I’ve read. I believe that everyone can love reading they just have to find the right books for them. I both listen to audio books and read physical books!!
Find Your People // Jennie Allen
Finding Community is the topic I love most. I adored this book and found it to be so practically helpful.
Wingfeather Saga // Andrew Peterson
10/10, reminds me so much of Narnia! Kids fiction book are my favorite thing to read on Sabbath, this one was perfect.
Book Lovers // Emily Henry
Again, I am having a fiction moment. They just feel lighthearted and cheery. I’m a sucker for a romance novel, add two lovers falling in love and you have a perfect book for me.
What I Did for Fun:
I am an unabashedly huge fan of Annie F. Downs and she always ask the question “what sounds fun to you?” My go to self-proclamation has been “I’m not fun”. This is an identity I’ve proclaimed over myself since I was a kid. That identify just isn’t true and I am working on overcoming it, answering this question is my attempt of doing that. I have loved thinking about Annie’s question and have been actively working on implanting at least one “fun” thing a week. By “fun” I mean truly fun activity that is for the sole purpose of delighting and enjoying myself. Life is chaotic and hard, having fun makes it all the better.
With a purse filled of Lacroix, dollar store candy, and a blanket in hand, I met my community group for Discount Tuesday Movie Night. We saw the new Top Gun, if you haven’t already heard, it’s SOO good. Tuesday are typically a night I devote to homework, so mixing it up and spending it at the movies with friends was fun!
What’s Saving Me This Week?
Barbara Brown Taylor, in her book Leaving Church, shares about a time she was invited to speak at an event and was prompted to “tell us what is saving your life right now”. I loved this question. It’s easy to list what is killing us and complain about all the things that are hard. The question can be answered in so many ways. Salvation is not a one-time experience but instead an active part of the life of a believer.
Laughter with friends. The last few weeks have felt heavy, from national news to just the day to day of work and life, but laughter has carried me. In my daily and weekly reflection, I find myself coming back to the way laughter with friends saves me. I feel most like myself when I am with friends laughing. It’s the moments I feel the
safest and the most joy. Laughter with friends is saving me this week.
Question to leave you with:
What areas of your life do you need to let go of expectations?
See you on Friday!
-tay