Choosing to Flourish

I have to be honest and say I was having a difficult time connecting the dots. How does a book about pruning, simplifying life in order to flourish, connect with baked goods, home, and hospitality? For me I want all of the different parts of me to make sense, to connect together. Maybe it’s pride. Mabe it’s fear. Maybe it’s trying to have control.

Then I read a few paragraphs that made it all come together for me. It’s as if Melissa Michaels is in my own mind.

“My home has often reflected how I felt on the inside. I’ve had to dig my way out of clutter magnified by depressing situations, rebuild relationships while I redeisgned my surroundings, and open doors to healthier habits while I removed the junk I had invited into our home.

All along I’ve had to learn to treat myself better, deal with my own crazy healthy symptoms, and fight to get well, feel more alive, and be happier. While I’ve had to face fears and learn to control out-of-control anxiety, simplifying life and creating order around me helped me find beauty again–and feel more equipped to juggle all of the above in the day, like a boss.”

She states earlier in the same book, Dwelling, “The beauty is in the simplicity. We can choose to become more mindful of our daily habits–how we relax and rejuvenante, how we sleep, what we eat, and how well we protect and nourish our home, body, mind, and soul.”

There it is! The connection. It has been there all along, I was unable to put it into words

By simplifying our lives, cutting back branches of sin, distraction, unhealth, etc, we gain the strength to open our homes to others and our lives to the things that makes us come alive. For me it can look like this: When I make the choice to simplify my things, routines, and to-do’s, I can then put the energy I would have put towards shuffling stuff, checking off lists, running all around town, and being overwhelmed towards my health and serving others. It allows me to open up my home. It allows me to sit in Scripture a little longer. It allows me to respond instead of react.

Do I do this perfectly. Heck no! Am I getting better at it? Definitely! Like Melissa said, “simplifying life and creating order around me helped me find beauty again.” It allowed me to flourish.

A year ago I started keeping track for myself with the hashtag #choosingtoflourish. I know hashtags can be annoying for a lot of people. But for me they are a great resource. Did you know you can search hashtags? If I want to find what other people are posting about salted caramel macrons, I can search “#saltedcaramelmacarons” in the Instagram, Pinterest, and even Facebook search bars. You can also use hashtags to categorize your postings. Many of my friends do this with each of their kids. But this isn’t a lesson on hashtags. Sorry for the tangent. I tell you this because I would love see how you choose to flourish. I want others to be encouraged and inspired by how other are choosing to flourish. So, if you’ve gotten this far and want to share, on your next instagram post (we’ll keep it simple with one social media platform) use the hashtag #choosingtoflourish to show others how you are choosing to flourish.