The lady at the farmer’s market had a table filled with rosemary and thyme to plant, lettuces for salad, white onion flowers and pinkish-purple garlic flowers.
“The petals can be used, too,” she said, offering a blossom for me to pinch one off to taste.
The flavor was more subtle, softer. I was sold.
They found their way onto Sunday morning sunny-side eggs with parmesan. Later in the week, it added flavor to steamed chard with asiago cheese and shrimp. Even later, it found its way into dill dip.
The bloom doesn’t wither like a dahlia – the garlic flower is durable, seemingly determined to last in the daily, the character of it adding something to this happily-ever-after.
St. Augustine said that the only difference between the pagan and the Christian is not the challenges they face – because they both face the same challenges – but how they face those challenges.
Let your hope make you glad. Be patient in time of trouble and never stop praying (Romans 12:12)
Living out our hope in God means we need to live hope like we believe it.
The secret to happily-ever-after? It’s a choice – an attitude choice – as simple as choosing 5 tiny petals to sprinkle over a sunny-side up egg.
Fairy-tales contain wonderful life lessons – of choices in the challenges that result in a happily-ever-after. I bet because they discovered the importance of choices – that when new challenges came up, they had the durable character to continue making the choices – choices that create happily-ever-after in the daily.
. . . . choices like forgiveness in a broken moment, to love despite the harshness of an argument, to not give up – ever, to search out, find and open the love letters sent to us in the daily
. . . . love letters written in the coo of a turtle dove on a roof-top, the call of a cardinal or perseverance of a red-bird hopping through the garden searching for worms
. . . . in the warmth of water after the water-heater broke and was replaced, in the sounds of raindrops on a porch roof and blue hydrangeas blooming that we thought lost after the great challenge a few years ago
. . . . in the giggles of a granddaughter chattering about happy birthdays – cakes, candles, red strawberries in a bowl, lit candles and her daddy and uncles celebrating birthdays
‘. . . . happily-ever-after in the after-birthday party mess comes in choosing to focus on the smiles, the happiness in a previous moment – the brotherhood in its more perfect form
. . . . the hope in the wait of a prayer sent out, in moments where we feel unseen, in the cracking-moments of our heart – the happily-ever-after is there just waiting to be chosen.
The heroine in all of us need a place to grow some peace, some joy that we can pull from, like a garlic flower – to change our attitude in not only how we live the daily but how we see the daily.
He has left attitude-changes all around us. It is our choice to use them to create a happily-ever-after.
A flower, even a garlic flower, stuck in a glass of water – is like staking a claim to hope, claiming victory in faith.
It’s in the seemingly insignificant of the daily that the happily-ever-after grows. It’s not an arriving thing. It’s an ever-growing thing – this choosing how we see the moments in our day. Maybe happily-ever-after is as simple as attitude choice? As simple as pulling petals from a garlic flower to sprinkle on a sunny-side-up egg.
I want it to be said that I lived happily ever after – not because every moment was perfect – but because I chose to see it that way.
A choice, yes, so true. I’ve never sampled the garlic flower but you make it sound scrumptious. And thank you for adding your prayers to my bottle π I’ll carry them with me to Haiti!
Just beautiful (again!).
Amen my friend.
Mary Leigh,
Your garlic flowers look beautiful and they sound tasty….and yes, a choice…thankful for the grace of His Spirit to help me choose π
Beautifully stated!
I’ve found that happily-ever-after really depends on definition. I live with constant and severe pain, and find that even in the worst of it, there are gem-like moments. Sometimes I can stay quiet and mentally isolate the pain, and that’s one kind of gem.
Another is overcoming it, doing what I wanted to do in spite of leaving a blood trail (a literal one, I’m afraid). The pain passes, but the accomplishment remains (to paraphrase the impressionist Auguste Renoir)
“Living out our hope in God means we need to live hope like we believe it.” LOVE this line…profoundly true!! And your list of attitude-changers was an endearing reminder of God’s love all around us and ever for us. Thanks!
Itβs in the seemingly insignificant of the daily that the happily-ever-after grows.
Love this line, Mary Leigh- So, so true. So glad to meet you here today!
yes, yes to this. let’s not discount the power of all the choices we get to make daily. and the lovely ways wise decisions have in giving us a richer, more peaceful life..
and … when’s breakfast?
;=}
Good Morning! I always love your blog and what you post! Now, are we not blogging friends?? Your heart and words always bless me so much!
Okay, I am going to add your blog to my sidebar; will you consider adding mine to yours? It is the only way we could start getting to know one another!
Blessings to you and your family and your blogging ministry!
Miss Roxy
I want to live happily ever after too.
What a neat lesson! and I agree it is our choices that make the difference
Wow I so agree with this “He has left attitude-changes all around us. It is our choice to use them to create a happily-ever-after.” well said my new friend. Thank you for stopping by today at homemaker-mom. I am adding your badge to my fav blogs page at my site you can find the link on my side bar of the blog. Blessings!!
Wow I so agree with this “He has left attitude-changes all around us. It is our choice to use them to create a happily-ever-after.” well said my new friend. Thank you for stopping by today at homemaker-mom. I am adding your badge to my fav blogs page at my site you can find the link on my side bar of the blog. Blessings!!
An ever-growing thing, indeed. You remind me of a plaque I had inscribed for my wall. It says: “Never finished yet always enough.”
Thank you for linking these reflections with us at Unforced Rhythms.