Burlap + Kindness

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This morning I took on a challenge.  Well, I attempted to anyway.  It's been on my heart and mind to tackle a project in my kitchen and that being to make curtains out of burlap (I'm using burlap coffee bags).  A friend let me know recently a source where I could get me some... and whalaa!!!  IT TOOK FOREVER - to find the right "coloring" that I wanted.  So... here we are.

It was a beautiful morning, sunny and cool - sitting outdoors - ripping seams.  A simply wonderful time to just sit and pray and reflect.   Why these flowers?   I added them to my table just to tie everything in - for the photo's sake.  Let me tell you a story.

Every morning, before school, I try to read a story of value (tying in Scripture, too) to my kiddos.  This morning it was about kindness and that when you give it away - more will come back to you!  Did you know... that these flowers... zinnias.. are like this.  The more you cut the more they come back.  So, de-head often - and their beauty will keep on coming.  Same is true.. if you give away an act of kindness; a word spoken in love or care; a thoughtful deed... it will come back to you.

I remember saying this often to my kids - 

You can't have it till you give it away.  Love doesn't live in a selfish place.

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Well, I started this post awhile ago, like as in last year, sometime.  It's been in draft mode ever since.  :( 

 I'm about to wrap up the last of the curtains - it'll be a valance for over my double window at the kitchen sink. I'm hand sewing the seams, for the casings, using the jute I'm pulling out.  It certainly has been a project, one I'm proud of, for sure.  Not hard - just time consuming.  One of the reasons it took me "so long" was I really cared about what kind of day I could be outdoors to do the task.  AND... burlap is a messy thing to work with - especially when it is cut and it frays.  I love the look, though.    And... I'm grateful for the beautiful chance I took on waiting for just the right color/texture of burlap.  

The only thing missing this year are the zinnias.   I didn't get any planted.

But.  Let kindness, love and patience continue.

How

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Do you ever make lists?  

If you are like me - you'll have a list for the list.  Right?  Check. Check.  And, sometimes I'll add things to the list - things that I have already tended to - just to put a line through it, to call it completed, and it somehow makes me feel more accomplished.  I don't know.  I'm funny, like that. :) 

And another thing I wonder, is this.  Is it the list that is what makes things get "done" or is it the "how-to" inside of us that is what motivates and gets things taken care of?   I often say to my kids - "Don't use or lose that paper - it's got my brain on it."  Meaning... the list is there to keep me from losing track of the busy...going on inside my head - but... that is NOT how things get done.  I've got to have a heart and passion or a motivation behind it all... to tend to things or it will never get done.

I'm not so sure how this will tie in - but I'm currently reading a book entitled, "How to Win Friends and Influence People".  If you haven't read it - you should.  I'm only halfway through it.  We're going through the book, as a team for a book study. It's a powerful look - into my heart for what I need in personal growth: How I relate, how I react, how I behave, how I love, how I serve, etc.

Here is my conclusion.  I can "know how" - all I want, but I have to have a "want to" for how it will get done.   Make sense?

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Linking up with Five Minute Friday and the word prompt - how:

Stay Awhile

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 Stay.   This has got to be one of my MOST favorite words...especially when in the company of a dear and favorite friend.  Either, I've said it often to my parents - as a youngster - when we would be the guests in someone's home.  I would literally beg.... "Can't we stay longer?"  Or, I would and sometimes, still find myself imploring a friend... to stay for just awhile longer - if they were over for just a simple cup of coffee and a chat.  Why change the moment and end it so soon?

Some of my favorite memories are when our kiddos were a lot younger and friends (whom we affectionately termed Fremily) would come over for, say, Sunday Lunch - after service - and we'd be having such a grand ole time; the kiddos playing so hard and the adults chatting it up or doing a project together, with several pots of coffee later.  It was like pulling teeth to separate and because this happened more than once I can safely say it was many a late night that the kids would crash out on the couches or on the floor.    

To me, this word Stay equates to a sense of belonging.  When your heart is "at home"...you want to just stay!!

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Linking up with the Five Minute Friday (FMF) Community!!  This weeks write-up prompt:

You have a friend in me

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When the floodwaters of the cesspool have come up to your very soul, you don't need challenges: you need comfort.  You need a friend to come alongside and say, "I am hurting with you... I am standing with you... I am weeping with you.  I am undergirding you as best as I can.  Link your shield of faith with mine and somehow we will make it together."   ~ Barbara Johnson

The year of 2020 has sure been an interesting ride.  One thing for sure that has come out of this for our family - has been a "reset".   We're stronger.  We're better together.  We've become better friends.

It's been beautiful!

I'm so grateful.