Living Lovely

The following is a guest post by Heidi from Mt. Hope Chronicles.

Recently, after an emotionally rough few months this past year, I became inspired and empowered to change my outlook on life. It all began with this video by Amy Krouse Rosenthal: The Beckoning of Lovely. It spoke to me loud and clear.

Lovely became my theme word for the year, and doubtless it will stay with me, even when this year is long gone.

When I looked up the meaning of lovely in the dictionary, these two definitions jumped off the page:

2. delightful for beauty, harmony, or grace

4. eliciting love by moral or ideal worth

The first definition spoke to me in two ways:

1) I need to look around me and notice the beautiful things in my life. They are very rarely big things, such as a vacation to the Bahamas. But every day, all day long (even on the rough days) there are little beautiful things in my life, if I will only take the time to see and acknowledge them.

Sometimes lovely is so small, we have to stop what we are doing to notice it. Sometimes lovely is disguised in the quotidian, and we must step outside of our normal point of view to recognize it.

A sticky kiss from the 2 year old covered in maple syrup. A cherry tree, just beginning to bloom. A husband wrestling on the living room floor with his three sons. A phone call from a friend.

2) I can create lovely in my life. Amy’s list is a tremendous place to start.

Make a grand entrance. Make do with what you have. Make a splash! Make it up as you go. Make out. Make a friend. Kiss and make up. Make someone's day. Make something pretty. Make music. Make peace.

The second definition was an overwhelming reminder that God has created each and every person in this world with moral and ideal worth. Do I treat my children, my husband, the grocery clerk, or the person who cut me off in traffic as if they possessed moral or ideal worth? Do I make them feel lovely? How can I project God’s love and grace to those I come in contact with throughout my day, or even in my thoughts as I go through life?

Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." ~Matthew 22:37-40

With God’s help, we all have the power to live lovely in our own lives. It doesn't matter how old you are, your gender, your financial bracket, or your political party. You don't need to be artistic or have a green thumb. You don't need 10 extra hours in your day. It doesn't matter if you are a stay-at-home mom, have a thriving career, or feel down-and-out. It isn't about perfection. It doesn't matter if your home is 8,000 square feet or 800.

Every one of us can make something.

We can make the most of our time here.

I am beginning a new Living Lovely series at Mt. Hope Chronicles. Each week, I’ll create a new Living Lovely Challenge for all who are interested in participating. The following week, I’ll post a Mr. Linky so that we each can share how we’ve used that inspiration in our lives. Come join me in Living Lovely!

Finally, brothers, whatever is true,

whatever is noble, whatever is right,

whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,

whatever is admirable

—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—

think about such things.

~Philippians 4:8

Heidi documents Living Lovely at her blog, Mt. Hope Chronicles. There she celebrates (in words and images) her journey as wife, home schooling mother of three rambunctious boys (7, 5, and almost 3), photographer, book collector, and lover of the little things.

Beautify the Space God Gave You

Image by annia316

Sometime in the last year I read The Hidden Art of Homemaking by Edith Schaeffer. What a beauty of a book! This book is not about being organized or managing time well. The subtitle is "Creative Ideas for Enriching Everyday Life". This is a book for the soul of the homemaker.

In short, this book is about creating a beautiful sanctuary for your family. It's about art. Music. Flowers. The things that feed the soul. Ahhhh. Refreshing.

The biggest challenge I found within its pages was this: Don't wait till you live in your dream home to make a place of beauty around you. Make wherever you are a place of beauty! I realized I had been doing just that--dreaming about how I would decorate the beautiful home in the country. You know, the one under the shade trees? The one with the sound of a happily gurgling brook? The one with wide open spaces. The one with hardwood floors and tall, gleaming windows that let sunlight stream in. The one that might never, ever come to be?

The Lord pricked my heart with this challenge. He wanted me to be content wherever He placed me, and to beautify my current surroundings. After all, our Lord isn't just a God of order, but a God of creativity and beauty!

So, I started planning a redecorating project for our home. I started by making a list of words that drew a picture of what I wanted to create in our home. Here are some of my words:

warm homey cozy colorful light quilts plants books art music life joy peace cheery kid-friendly imperfect laughter learning welcoming nature

Since then, we've slowly (very slowly) worked on moving my initial ideas from imagination to reality! We've painted, sewn and created. It has been so much fun to put pieces of my personality into my home! I'm not going for a gorgeous showplace--just a little spot of beautiful refuge for the people I love most.

I was "hindered" by a small budget. I put that word in quotes because, as I said, the Lord had really been working on teaching me to be content with what He had already provided for me. So, I've tried to be creative. One of the happiest little spots in my home is also one of the most frugal decorating projects I've completed.

These little circles are so easy and so cheap to make! I found some wonderful fabrics (you may even have some fabric scraps hanging around that would work), and bought some very inexpensive embroidery hoops. Pop the fabric into the hoop, pull to tighten, trim, and hot glue the edge to the inside of the hoop. Ta-Da! You're done!

I'm planning to do more of these in our living room. I'll use different sizes and put them up randomly instead of in a grid like I've done here in the kitchen.

This little idea is not my own--actually, most of my ideas are copies of what I've seen others do. I originally saw these delightful little circles on Delight's photo stream on Flickr. Sara (Delight) blogs at Walk Slowly,Live Wildly and I love her taste!

So what's stopping you from creating a beautiful space for you and your family? Day-dreaming? Budget limitations?

Ask God to show you how you can be creative with what you have, so that you can make a sanctuary where love and laughter can grow.

For more frugal tips, please visit LifeasMOM for Frugal Friday!

Creating Memories with Traditions

Image by luchilu

Just a little while ago, I shared my job description with you. One of the lines of my job description reads: "To build a home that is a sanctuary for my family that reflects God's eternal characteristics of order, beauty, peace, love, harmony, diligence and faithfulness." I'd like to point out that when I think of home, I don't necessarily think so much of a specific geographic location, as a place in our hearts and minds.

Home. Connected to the relationships of our family. A "place" of rest, beauty, discovery.

When it comes to inspiration to fill one's life and family with a sense of beauty, Heidi at Mt. Hope Chronicles has it going on. If you've never been over to her place, hop on over to visit and be prepared to get inspired! Her blog is filled with beautiful photography (she's awesome!), wonderful literature, and beautiful home decorating. She's started a new weekly meme called Living Lovely with Family. The purpose is to be a gathering place for "ideas for making meaningful connections and memories with our families". The theme this week is yearly traditions.

I've only recently started thinking about the importance of my role as a memory builder. But I had decided to intentionally pursue regular yearly traditions to build memories for our family. So, I was excited when I saw Heidi's idea, and am thrilled to participate as well as gather ideas from other bloggers.

Our yearly traditions fit pretty well with the seasons. Some of these traditions are newly formed (read: we've only done them once so far!), but the plan is to do them annually now.

In the spring, our town has a month long festival to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Yes. A whole month long! So, every year since I first met Keith, I've participated in the festivities here. The activities are endless, but we usually participate in the pancake supper, the parade, and the arts and crafts show. This year I got burnt to a crisp at the parade. Memorable indeed.

In the summer, you'll find us trying to take at least one trip to the beach--even if it's just a day trip. We only live a couple of hours from the beach, which is so wonderful. Waves. Sea shells. Sand in your swimsuit. Me getting burnt to a crisp. We love the beach!

Fall brings the state fair. (This is one of our newest traditions.) Oh, how we loved the state fair! A petting zoo, beautiful exhibits, a picnic, and Caden's first ride with Daddy. And me NOT getting burnt to a crisp. Instead, I froze my little tail off, and had to buy a ridiculously expensive sweatshirt from a vendor. I do seem to have weather problems, don't I?

Winter time. When it gets to be winter here in Georgia, I really, really miss the snow--especially for my boys' sake. I wish we could build memories sledding, making snowmen, and trekking through a snowy wood to find the perfect Christmas tree. Instead, we have another new tradition. We go to see a private home that is decorated with over a million Christmas lights! Entry is free--this family does this each year simply to bless their community with a bit of beauty. Plus, I didn't get burnt and I was dressed appropriately! Bingo. (I have to get it right sometimes.)

What are some of your favorite yearly traditions?