Desperate for Flavor!

A brilliant January sunshine was streaming in my office door this morning as I ran the carpet sweeper over the doormat to catch the shiny salt crystals that tracked in after our morning snowfall.

Flavor! Our lives want and were created for flavor.

Growing up, my brother and I would snatch a crystal of salt when Dad would refill the water softener tank and lick on it until we had had enough! We also begged mom every so often to let us lick on a bouillon cube. We’d carefully peel back the foil wrapper and take a few licks and wrap it back up for later…savoring the flavor. Yes, it was intense! (Probably people wouldn’t be allowed to do that today, but we’re still alive and well.)

Sometimes we just want to be able to taste something!

There’s a lot of bland and superficial in our lives…not just in food, but in our homes, our relationships and our work.

It’s no fun taking all the flavor out of something because we’re afraid someone else might not like it…we’re not trying to make something for everyone…we are sharing a bit of who we are.  Make something you really enjoy, be someone you really want to be, create a work environment you really would like to work in and find out who all might be attracted to it. And if they aren’t, then they’re not the right ones and you don’t need their approval anyway.

I believe our lives are crying out for more flavor, more interest, more zest and zeal. And we are the ones who have to do something about it.

Try a new recipe, a new meat, a new fruit or vegetable…actually experiment with some new spices in a big, bold way. Change up your wardrobe, rearrange your house, get a new plant, take your family to the art museum, brighten up your work space to say, “Hello work, I’m here for a good day!”

Beat back the winter doldrums with some flavor in your life!

It works just like yeast in bread…add a little bit and it will grow and your whole life can be changed.

What new flavors do you want to incorporate into your life today?

(…all this came about from a rock of salt on the carpet…)

 

 

 

Beauty

Be on the lookout for beauty in your everyday life.

I believe God likes it when we add beauty to our surroundings, our home, our yard, our kitchens, our closet, our wardrobe. Beauty adds something uplifting to our spirits that nothing else can.

If you don’t see beauty where you are, make some! Place a pretty vase in the sunshine to catch the rays and make rainbows, open the windows and refresh the air inside your home. Artistically hang up your children’s drawings to brighten your laundry room walls and see their smiles when they walk in and find their little ‘Rembrandts’ placed where everyone will notice!

For dinner table decor go outside and gather colorful stones, some sticks, moss, acorns, autumn leaves, or whatever you see that looks interesting and make an outdoor arrangement inside– using your old stoneware plate, or tarnished silver platter from grandmother to place everything on, and let the kids help…better yet, let them do it all! It’s good for them to learn the experience of making beauty.

We are creative beings made in the image of God and when we make beautiful things we feel better inside. That’s just the way we’re made! And there’s nothing wrong with that feeling.

Toss the beauty of a kind word, a compliment or a smile to those at home and away and watch how that beauty changes the other person.

People really do want to see beauty. It’s like an oasis in the everyday mundane. Beauty gives hope of better things and better times to come. It reminds us of the God that made us and His watchful care.

Go out today and create some beauty. It doesn’t have to cost a thing and the effects are lasting!