Winter

Winter

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Just Life

I thought I would show you my flowerbed before the heat gets here, because after Friday when it hits 90 degrees these irises will be but a memory. They really multiplied, I couldn't believe how many came up this year. I never planted that many about 10 is all if I remember right and each year I divide them and plant some in a new place and this year my flowerbed looked like this.
  I wanted to show you my hydrangea bed. I have this part of the whole bed filled with them. I hope someday they will just take over. I do need to put some nails around them so I can get some blue ones.

Today I took my son to buy some new shoes. We were standing at the counter waiting when I looked up. You know how sometimes it just hits you that your baby is grown up. He is a good foot taller than me or more. " I said, " Gosh Peter, you are so much taller than me now." He said, " Well Mom, I better be you aren't that tall."
We drove home and I said, " You are going to be eighteen next year." He said, " Yep, I am a man." I said that is true, you are a very nice man."  He said, " I am glad I am a man I have always wanted to be one, he said I don't think I ever felt like a boy."  I said, " You are right, you have always been pretty old."

Then as we drove home, it hit me. They may all still live at home, but my parenting days are almost over and it will be time to put on a new hat. I don't know what this one will be yet. I know it will be a new one and it will look different. Have you read or heard about that lady who talks about how beautiful she is?

I have thought about beauty since she started telling the world about herself. God says that beauty is this " For this is the way the holy woman of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master."

Beauty comes not by talking about it but it is a quiet place in your heart. I once met the most beautiful woman in the world. She was my friend. We would share our lives each week for a hour  or so as we sat at piano lessons. She was from Burma. She was kind and gentle and was good through and through. She didn't have the kind of beauty that you see flaunted in magazines. Her beauty spoke of the gentle and quiet spirit of her heart. Her whole manner was that of gentle submission and kindness.
I think that living your life, quietly serving, can be the best kind of beauty.

So as I get ready to take my school teacher hat off and put it away, in a box on the shelf, I hope that someday when the time comes and all my hats are put away, I will have done a good job and I may enter into that rest with a crown to lay at my Master's feet.

Have a very lovely Thursday,
~Kim~

21 comments:

Pom Pom said...

What a great post, Kim! I have goosebumps. I have been thinking about beauty, too. It DOES come from within. Contentment and peace show on the face, don't they?
Who is the lady that talks about how beautiful she is?
You are going to reap the benefits of all your mommy/teacher love. Well, you already are!
Oh, those hydrangeas are GORGEOUS! They don't grow here. I didn't know about the nail trick.

Miss Debbie said...

A beautiful, thought provoking post! Thanks for sharing it with us.

Julia said...

Who says that beauty is only skin deep didn't know about inner beauty that last.

Your flowers are so beautiful. Your irises looks like my siberian irises. I planted one little root now I have a clump by my big rock. The petals are smaller than my big bearded irises.

I never heard about the nails trick either. I have some blue hydrangeas but they only bloomed once as they bloom on the previous year branches and the cold gets them every winter. I'm getting rid of it.

Well I think that you have to put on your grandmother's hat. What else is there?
Hugs, JB

Sue said...

You will indeed have many crowns to lay at the Master's feet Kim. You have such a heart for God, and family.I was so blessed by reading the conversation between you and your son Peter.

I love hydrangeas but haven't had much luck in growing them, but I keep trying. lol
hugs,
Sue

TexWisGirl said...

you, my dear, won't know what to do with yourself! maybe you'll start teaching the grandkids! :)

Nancy said...

This is a post every mother should read.....It's all about the heart and not the face....You said it so beautifully.......

You will indeed have many stones in your crown to lay at the Master's feet because you are a willing servant that He can and has and will continue to use until He calls you home.....

Alica said...

Beautifully said! (and your flowers are beautiful too! I've just been reading about how you can change your soil's ph to change the color of hydrangeas)

myletterstoemily said...

i think YOU are beautiful!
thank you for the sweet
demonstration of true
beauty.

Kessie said...

I think the hardest thing about your new stage of life is that there's so few books written about it. You'll have to go back to previous generations to find what you need. (Or write your own!)

I can't believe it's going to be 90 already. I'm not quite ready for the heat yet.

moosecraft said...

Oooooooh... Loverly hydrangeas!!! I hope to plant about 3 this year and may try some different varieties. I have a good amount of shade in my yard so this is my plan to bring some delicate color into the mix. I guess from a Mom's perspective their kids grow up fast.... but, when I was a kid, I could not grow up fast enough? lol! Life is funny sometimes! ;-)

Debbie said...

Good morning! I loved this post! and I was especially blessed by the conversation between you and Peter...("Well mom I better be, you aren't that tall", haha)It took me a couple of years to settle in to my new role when my last one left the nest. There was much both good and hard about that season in my life. But I have found MANY things about it that can be treasured. And one of them is the conversations just keep getting better and better, and mama to adult children is one of life's very best blessings, and one I never expected. Have a wonderful day!

Gumbo Lily said...

Great post! Our baby left for college this past fall and I retired my teacher hat, but I'm still wearing my mom hat. I don't think you ever throw that one in the box once you earn it.

Your flower beds are lovely, lovely!

Jody

Empty Nester said...

Beautifully written! You know that I am still trying to find the hat that fits me during these early empty nest years. The everyday mom hat was hard to take off.

BlueShell said...

Just awesome!
BShell

Thistle Cove Farm said...

Beautiful is when God says, "well done thou good and faithful servant." My goal is to hear those words...later rather than sooner - LOL -

Debbie said...

you are a beautiful soul kim, you really are!!

Maryann said...

That mom hat is a hard one to take off...I find myself still taking it out of the closet every once and awhile. I don't think you every really put it away, just don't wear it as much

Patrice said...

You are beautiful, my friend!

Janettessage.blogspot.com said...

Now I am crying...you put it all so well, and just wrapped it up in a bow...an eternal bow...yes when we take off one hat to wear a new unfamiliar hat..but the best is "well done my good and faithful servant"

Kathy ... aka Nana said...

This was such a beautifully written post. It's so hard to put that mama hat away. In fact, sometimes I'm not so sure that I've put mine away completely ... every once in a while I find it in my hand, ready to put on.

I just love the pictures of your flowers ... thanks so much for sharing them with us. Right now all I have blooming are a few azaleas (mine aren't looking too great this spring ... in fact, the one we planted last spring is looking almost puny ... not leafing out nicely and no blooms). Although there is a bloom on my rose bushes ... so more aren't far behind. ;-) I need to go out and prune my hydrangea bush ... there's a little bit of wood that didn't survive over the winter. But it's looking good. Everything's ahead of schedule this spring, so I wonder when it will start blooming.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Coloring Outside the Lines said...

You are about to enter a new phase, but the mama hat will still come in handy, even after they marry and move on. Very sweet post!