Journey XIV Week 14
April Showers Bring May Flowers
(Left) Poppies and Daisies. (Right) Bluebonnets and Flamingos. Springtime must sees from the corner of 29th and Jefferson and the corner of Bee Caves and Highway 360.
“I keep the telephone of my mind open to peace, harmony, health, love and abundance. Then, whenever doubt, anxiety or fear try to call me, they keep getting a busy signal - and soon they'll forget my number.” — Edith Armstrong
Action: Remember the good and bad of all seasons of your life, but take special note of all of the good. 99% of the things that keep us up at night and we fear most never come true. So do not worry. Rather, endure, persevere, and remain faithful and optimistic.
Can you believe that less than one year ago today Austin experienced the hottest summer on record—at least since 1854! June 1st through August 16th was the warmest ever. The drought was severe, the lakes were drying, we were burning up, and Barton Springs became a favorite summer location.
Then, remarkably in September when we fully expected to continue to fry and thought our yards and city may actually go up in flames, the temperatures miraculously dropped and we even experienced a little rain fall. The fall of 2009 started earlier than normal. The trees slowly changed different shades of golden colors and actually remained beautiful through early December. Thanksgiving felt like Thanksgiving rather than Labor Day. I even took this picture from Butler Park during the THIRD week of December!
Following the fall was easily what I recall the coldest and wettest winter ever. We received so much rain that the lake levels rose to normal capacity. We had many sub-freezing nights and mornings, allowing us to legitimately wear our winter boots, coats, exercise gear and scarves for several months without feeling silly. We even saw the biggest snow flakes EVER in Austin. Remember this:
Now it's springtime and a glorious one at that! Maybe even the prettiest of all times. The grass, trees and wildflowers are almost surreal and I even have a rose bush in my back yard with roses on it that I didn't even know existed until now!
What I love about the past year is that we saw a full seasonal cycle. It was a wonderful example of the ebbs and flows that occur in our lives. We had an extremely challenging summer and winter that both felt like they lasted forever. But our gift is that we got to experience a memorable fall and are getting to enjoy a perfect spring. This, in my opinion, is worth every drop of sweat during the summer and every layer of winter clothes and late night pipe and plant wrapping during the winter.
This is also the perfect example of why worry and fear is not a good use of time and energy. When we endure, persevere, stay optimistic and faithful we see that it always works out and typically works out better than we could've imagined. The weather is out of our control, like many other things in our life, so having positive attitudes and outlooks become even more essential as they are what we can control.
One of my favorite sayings is “This too shall pass.” During difficult seasons and hurtful and scary times in life it's important to keep perspective and remember that it will pass. It's also important to recognize anxiety for what it is: the opposite of peace. Anxiety creates doubt and confusion and leaves us in a state of worry and fear. When we do this we lose sight of living our life and all of the overflowing blessings and gifts that surround us on a minute my minute basis. In the words of Glenn Turner, “Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but it gets you nowhere.”
April showers really do bring May flowers, just as adversity and difficult times do strengthen friendships, faith and character, making life even more rich. On that note, the summer of 2010 is predicted to be hotter and drier than normal, so I encourage you to remember the good and bad of the past year and how we DID endure and persevered. Our worst fears didn't come true. Everything has worked out fine... probably even better than we could've imagined.
This week's funny video reminds me of what our minds can create from something small... like a butterfly setting off an alarm system on a car can result in a boat crashing into a house. What are the odds?!?!?!
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