Dear Reader:

The photo, above, of the long-leaf sun flower, is a good example of success gone astray. The blooms aren’t as heavy as the regular sunflower bloom and the stalks, not quite as tough, but, if left alone, it too, will grow too tall to sustain its own weight. (That is the day I walk out in the garden and see it drooping over like a weeping willow. The sunflower blooms with their faces in the dirt or mud.)

So I now know to keep it pruned throughout its growing season…so as to avoid this annual catastrophe. You would think, Mother Nature, in all her wisdom, would intuitively let the plant know when to slow its growth pattern, but, for whatever reason, it never gets the stop signal in time not to destroy itself.

Aren’t we, as humans, guilty of the same thing too many times? We start gaining some success, whether in  finance or notoriety, and decide if a little is good, more must be better. Too late we realize our folly.

It always come back down to wants and needs. How much do we really need to be content in our lives?

On HGTV, a lot of time is given to the new popularity  of “Little Homes.” The commercials show young people starting out or retirees slowing down… saying they want to spend their lives traveling and seeing the world, not tied down to a big mortgage which ends up consuming their lives and relationships.

In the commercial, one young man says: “We are the generation who are redefining what success looks like.” 

I think once we get over society’s interpretation of what a successful life looks like,,,,big home, lots of cars, big vacations, etc. and look inward to what defines “success” for us….we can start life anew.

In Walking on Water Madeleine L’Engle recalls an important conversation she had with a trusted spiritual adviser and friend, Canon Tallis.

“I was deeply grieved about something, and I kept telling him how woefully I had failed someone I loved, failed totally, otherwise that person couldn’t have done a wrong that was so destructive.

Finally he looked at me and said calmly: ” Who are you to think you are better than the Lord? After all, He was singularly unsuccessful with a great many people.” 

That remark, made to me many years ago, has stood me in good stead, time and again. I have to try, but I do not have to succeed. Following Christ has nothing to do with success as the world sees success. It has to do with love. “

So until tomorrow….how many times do we have to hear it over and over again to realize that LOVE is what life is all about, period.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Delight of the Day: 

Today I will be at the tea given for one of my favorite authors, Karen White, and her latest book, Flight Patterns.

Anne has been asked to bring some of her artistic wares to sell, including new note cards and a special painting of a specific china pattern used as the backdrop for White’s latest novel. I will be wearing this bracelet. A hint of all to come on tomorrow’s blog.