An early Spring...

My Great Grandmother-in-law (phew, that's a mouthful!) gave me a pot of beautiful Narcisi bulbs for Christmas this year. I am always thrilled to be given bulbs as I absolutely love Spring flowers. I put the pot with the hopeful green leaves on my Kitchen windowsill, not expecting to see any flowers until Spring (especially because my kitchen is unheated!). But, as you can see from the picture, only a few weeks later, tiny yellow flowers have erupted on my windowsill, filling my heart with hope as only Spring can every time I see them.

In order to have early flowers, you have to trick the bulbs! You have to 'force' them to flower early, by putting them somewhere cold and dark (like the fridge) for several weeks and then bringing them out into the light and warm. The bulbs thus are 'tricked' into 'thinking' it's Spring and out come their gorgeous flowers! Ok, so this has spoken to me so much because I can relate to it on a deeper level. I feel like the past year of 2010 has been one where I have been 'forced' as it were, like the bulbs, on a fast track to fruition. I read a quote the other day that for me perfectly summed up 2010: "Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strength. When you go through hardship and decide not to surrender, that is strength." I thought 'Yes!', last year was really hard for us on so many levels, mainly relational, but also financial. But all those struggles have been forcing me to produce a deep root system inside of me, and I find myself at the end of the year so much stronger than I was at the beginning- and so much clearer on who I am and what I want life to be.

I read this quote this morning: "You can have anything you want if you want it desperately enough. You must want it with an exuberance that erupts through the skin and joins the energy that created the world." In the past I've found these sort of quotes difficult as I've felt a pressure that it's my responsibility to get what I want, but something has shifted now and I feel completely different. I can feel myself agreeing with the quote, 'yes I do have a dream, and I can't wait to get started... I'm so excited', rather than, 'uh oh, I'd better do something.'! I can feel change coming now, it's like all my 'roots' have gone down deep and I have a well of strength to draw from. 2011 is going to be a year when I start to see some beautiful flowers coming out! I just can't wait to get creating!

There will still be obstacles, difficulties, things to uncover, I know that, but at the same time, there will be more and more flowers! I feel really set on an upwards path.

"What you get by reaching your destination is not nearly as important as what you will become by reaching your destination." Zig Ziglas

I love this picture of the woods near my house, just wanted to share it!