Dear Reader:

Everywhere we look these day…the azaleas and flowering fruit trees are in full bloom.

I, also, discovered the most delicate apple blossom on one tree and a bush covered in the Cherokee Rose vine in Ridgeville on my way back from Duke’s Barbecue last week. Spring has so many wonderful surprises awaiting us if we take the time to get off the trodden path and look behind and inside the seasonal foliage.

Life, I believe, is supposed to be lived in “full bloom,”  don’t you? We need to put ourselves, our personalities, out there every day and see the ripple effect begin to take place.

We all have our own view of the ideal life, the one that writer Elizabeth Murray calls a life in “full bloom”—a life that’s good, meaningful, and full of creativity and compassion for others. To achieve that life, she writes in her new book, Living Life in Full Bloom, we have to foster and develop the qualities of four distinct personality characteristics that each one of us harbors deep within: the gardener, who nurtures and observes; the artist, who uses creativity to discover new possibilities; the lover, who is guided by her heart and passions; and the spirit-weaver, who expresses gratitude and recognizes blessings.

As I think about the people I surround myself with…I see these four distinct qualities in each one of them. I, also, discovered, after reading a clip passage from the book that my 2017 word, Listen, plays an important role in living life to the fullest.

Listen Deeply

Listening with an open heart and without agenda is one of the greatest gifts we can offer someone. The author makes dates with friends she hasn’t seen in awhile for a catch-up stroll. She purposefully keeps her thoughts and opinions to a minimum because she is giving her friend the gift of time…to listen to her about the ups and down of his/her life in the present moment. A most precious gift!

Simplify Your Life

A week or so ago, there was an estate sale in our neighborhood and for just a fraction of a second I entertained the thought of joining dozens of others who had packed the streets and the home searching for antiques or treasures. What stopped me was the thought…“I am trying to get rid of “stuff” not add on more. I have started practicing saying “What I have is enough…no more.” (I half expect to see a dark, black raven sitting on my shoulder each time I say these words to myself…”Nevermore.”

The other day as I was jerking a kink out of my water hose for the umpteenth time (my neighbor Vickie casually mentions each time this happens that it is money well spent to buy a more expensive, durable hose that won’t kink.) It did make me think, however, that the kink in the water hose is like our own personal kinks in life.

To live life in its fullest, we must un-kink and resolve issues in our lives that deter us from a “full bloom” life with water flowing over us consistently helping us grow. We all know what these kinks are (to name a few): grudges, envy, procrastination, weak excuses, depression, etc. Kinks are anything that slow down our life supply of necessary ingredients to bloom our best.

So until tomorrow…Help us Father bloom under your guidance and spread the sunshine along the way.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh