Pamplemousse et pastèque

Sometimes language fails me. Sometimes there are just no words to express the feeling, the experience, the thoughts.

For the life of me I couldn’t remember what ‘watermelon’ was in French! I have been speaking French for most of my lifetime and yet the word escaped me.

I don’t think I know much of anything about ‘la vie douce‘ except for my personal experience. I don’t have a magic wand or a secret formula that can solve everyone’s woes.

It is hard to write about something from a place of loss or ignorance or pain. But of late the acronym KISS has been on my mind… keep it simple ‘sweetie’ or ‘stupid’ for those who like to call a spade a spade… 😜

I have the privilege as a foster mom to babies to see physical development at its very beginning. I get to see first smiles, hear first words, see first steps. Everything has to have a beginning. We all have to start somewhere. Baby steps.

I’ve been on a path of wellness as I recognize that as I age I need to not take my body for granted. I have young ones depending on me. More importantly, I need to care for myself well as I can’t keep serving these young ones, my family, my friends, my church, my community from a continuously empty tank.

La vie douce— my baby step— my sweet life for today consists of sitting down to put this rambling here. My baby step involves doing so from a place of openness, recognizing I have a lot to learn. Knowing that I am but a lump of clay being formed into something beautiful by my Creator. I am seeking Him as I breathe in the warm breeze and feel the gentle wind on my face. He is good. All the works of His hands are good.

And so today, I breathe Him in. Today He is my everything and the key to the sweet life I crave.

Mes douleurs de croissance

Anything worthwhile doing requires some level of discomfort. Growing pains are simply a signal that we are on the right path.

We are made to stretch. There is a reason many of us get a restlessness in us. Restlessness occurs when we aren’t being obedient to the call in our daily lives that compels us towards loving kindness and goodness towards others (and ourselves) in our present circumstances.

It is countercultural but I always prefer to err on the side of Jesus.

La vie douce occurs when we live by this very simple instruction:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and love your neighbour as yourself.”

It is as easy (or as difficult) as that.

Growth=stretching=more growth=more stretching

La vie Pastorale

Plucking berries from my grandmother’s raspberry bush and popping them straight into my mouth is the epitome of farm to table; the memory of which is so very sweet.

Pastorale: suggestive of an idyll; charmingly simple and serene way of life. (source- google)

Why do we complicate things? I think our overabundance stifles our creativity and stunts our ability to live life as we are intended.

P.S. This blog was inspired by me cleaning out our fridge today. #rottenfruit

La Passion

I have a toddler with a singular purpose in his daily life. His purpose is to just be.

What if.

What if I lived my life with a singular purpose? What if that purpose is to just be? To just be me. To be the me I was created to be?

My little man knows how to do that. And his contribution to this world just as he is, is enough. In fact, it is breathtaking.

La Passion. Zest. Exuberance. Fire. Intensity. Fervor. That. That to me sounds like the good life. La vie douce. Yes. Please.

(Fyi… this is little man’s favorite song. He knows truth when he hears it.)