My love affair with flowers has been a constant vine through my life. Ever since I was a little girl, whether I was choosing a notebook, a dress, a wallpaper, or a china pattern, I wanted the one with flowers on it.
I can’t get over their beauty. You can put one flower in a vase and it’s beautiful. You can put a bunch of the same flower in a vase—beautiful. Put flowers together that are as opposite from each other as they could possibly be—beautiful. Simple flowers, complex flowers, grocery store flowers, flowers shipped from faraway countries—they are all beautiful. I can’t get over them and I never will.
I can study a flower or a flower arrangement the same way I have learned to study a piece of art. Look at the details. The color fades perfectly from intense saturation to white. See how putting greenery next to it brings out the color? What an unusual shape! It’s just sitting there being beautiful and that is reason enough for its existence. It will be beautiful if I’m having a good day or a bad day. It makes my home a lovely place to be, instantly elevating a lifeless room to a LIVING room.
“But flowers cost money and then they die. What a waste!”
My husband has always been one to do things big. Many years ago, he would order an arrangement for our anniversary that cost $75 or more. They were beautiful, but, at the same time, a pity that they lasted such a short time and too costly to buy them more often. Then grocery stores started carrying bouquets for $25 and under. I convinced my husband that I would rather have a $5 grocery store bouquet every month than a $75 arrangement once a year. He agreed and has been spotted walking in the door with flowers in hand on many occasions since. I think he enjoys having them around the house as much as I do. We are both enjoying my 30th anniversary gift of a monthly bouquet subscription. It was a great idea of his to make the celebration last all year.
I have long wanted a cutting garden. To arrange flowers for my home is a great joy, but to grow my own flowers to arrange—THAT’s next level. If I love them at maturity, how much more would I love them if I watched them GROW to maturity?! I am just starting to learn about growing flowers, but if I fail and decide it is not for me, I will just buy flowers from people who know how to grow them. I don’t think money is wasted on flowers. The fact that they are beautiful for such a short time emphasizes the fact that enjoying today is worth the expense. For a girl who is constantly planning for the future, it is a great exercise for me to stop and smell the roses today. It reminds me that there is beauty in this day, not just a day I am looking forward to down the road. Today used to be the day I looked forward to. The grass withers and the flowers fall, and this day will die and fade away, too. I want to enjoy it by having joy in it and marvel at what is marvelous.
These zinnias are the first flowers I grew.
I grew the hydrangea, foxglove, zinnia, nepeta, and forget-me-nots.
When I look at a flower arrangement or a painting—I mean stop and really look at it—my thoughts quickly turn to the artist that created it. What skill is exhibited in bringing the elements together to express thoughts and emotions without a word! The creation is the expression of the creator and is only a sample of how complex and fascinating its creator is.
My children have also gifted me with flowers. What could be more lovely?!
Other than my loved ones’ faces, I can’t think of anything more beautiful to me than flowers. I want them in my life every day. No doubt there will be some at my funeral. We can think of no more beautiful thing for honoring a loved one and recognizing the transition from earth to heaven than with flowers, a fascinating living thing that grew for a time, did its part, and returned to dust.
I think flowers are love notes from God—little glimpses of the beauty of His presence.
~ Yes, flowers must be the stuff of heaven. ~
