Spring Flowers

I love Spring, and I love flowers!

When I think of Spring, I think of rebirth. It is a time of hope. 

The daylight hours get longer, the birds return and sing joyfully, the air smells of fragrant blossoms and freshly cut grass, and the earth is bursting with life. My senses are working overtime, and I’m loving every minute of it (despite my itchy, watery eyes)! I am filled with joy, for all God has provided. Spring reminds me of new beginnings: a fresh start. I want to savour every second of it, because after our long Canadian winter, Spring is such a welcomed change. 

I think perhaps I love and appreciate Spring more, after going through a cold blustery Winter. Likewise, I enjoy Autumn more, after going through a hot humid Summer, and so on. I love the changing seasons!

Change is a good thing. Embrace it. Without it, imagine what we’d be missing. Think about all you’ve learned and experienced that would not have been possible, without change. True, not all change is pleasant, needed, nor easy. And yes, with change there are sometimes negative outcomes or consequences. But when we look back over our lives, would we really want to give up all the joy, just to avoid the potential (or inevitable) negatives.

I’ve shared a few of my favourite early blossoms from my garden with you in earlier posts, but I will share many more in this one. Enjoy the beauty of Spring in God’s creations. I pray it brings a smile to your face, and joy to your heart.

🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷

The tulip is one of my favourite spring flowers; definitely my favourite coming from a bulb! It has long been considered a flower of love and charity, and is often used to symbolize such depth as the brevity of life, paradise on earth, heaven and eternal life.

Light Pink Tulip

Medium Pink Tulip

Deep Pink Tulip

Red tulips opening wide for the sunshine

White Tulip

The Bleeding Heart is a flower of love and compassion. I love it's heart-shaped blossoms: A reminder  perhaps, of what's most important. I shared my red, “Valentine”, bleeding heart in an earlier post, but I also have this white, “Alba”, which is just barely beginning to bloom, as well as an old-time favourite, pink variety.

White Bleeding Heart

Pink Bleeding Heart

The Purple Violet, often considered a weed, is the floral emblem of the province of New Brunswick, Canada. It is a welcomed sight to me in May. Their happy little "faces" and heart-shaped leaves, make me smile, and I have been the recipient of bouquets of these from little hands, with big hearts, more times than I can remember. They are apparently an edible plant, but I've never tried to eat them, as I prefer to look at them.

Purple Violets

This Serviceberry tree is covered in beauty; but only for a short time. As quickly as these small white blossoms appear, they disappear with the wind within a week. My feathered friends love this tree, and love it even more when it is covered in berries…A change that occurs a little later in the season.

For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. (Ecclesiastes 3:1) NLT

God Bless!

Joyful Hope

(Matthew 5:16)

© 2017 JOYFUL HOPE  

hopecultivated.blogspot.com

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Happy Mother's Day!

I have been blessed to have had many “mothers” in my life. Some have passed away, which creates a deep sense of sadness and loss within me. Yet, at the same time, I feel such thankfulness for having them in my life, and for the impact they had on me. I seriously do not know what I would have done without them. By their example, I strive to be like the honourable women that they were; thus having a positive impact on generations after me.  

At the same time, I am blessed to be a mother, and this brings me great joy. This is an honour and responsibility that I take very seriously. When I think about the gift of motherhood that God has entrusted upon me, I feel so overwhelmingly unworthy and loved.

You may be a mother to your own biological children, adoptive children, or step-children. You may be a “mother” to others who have lost their mother, do not have a close relationship with their mother, or you simply possess those mothering qualities that makes everyone around you feel loved and cared for. You may be a pet mother, and love your pets or those you care for, with the deep loving characteristics only a mother could have. You may even be a Dad, who is also the “mother”, in the absence of one.

I know Mother’s Day can be a very depressing day for some people. You may have lost your mother or you are unable to have children. Perhaps you have lost a child, or maybe you have a mother, but she’s never been like a “mother” to you. Perhaps you feel rejected or unloved by your child.

Friends, I know Mother’s Day can be a sad time; but it is just a day, that by itself, does not define who you are. You are loved and accepted by the Lord; the Creator of Heaven and Earth. Take time if you’re able, to celebrate the “mothers” you love, appreciate, and look up to. And if there is no one that fits this description in your life, perhaps YOU could be that “mother” in someone else’s life who needs to feel loved and accepted, as we all want to feel.

So I say, “Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there! This is a day we celebrate YOU; for who you are, and for all that you do!”

Red Bleeding Heart, currently blooming in my garden.

God Bless!

Joyful Hope

(Matthew 5:16) 

© 2017 JOYFUL HOPE  

hopecultivated.blogspot.com

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED