I am RICH

The flowers on my table had dried up and I decided it was time to throw them away. The next morning, I went for a run and came back to a new bouquet on my table. It had a note from my parents telling me they loved me. I went away for a week to Idaho for a family reunion and came back to the bouquet from my parents beginning to wilt in a few areas, so I pulled the very large bouquet out of its vase and pulled out the wilting flowers. I grabbed another vase and separated the large bouquet and made two new arrangements out of the flowers that still had a little life in them. I love fresh flowers.

Many know that I love making bouquets and especially love picking wildflowers and making beautiful arrangements with them. I remember as a young girl thinking, I want to always have fresh flowers in my house. Maybe I saw it in a magazine or maybe at Grandma Ginny’s house as she would pick roses from her yard, and we would make cute bouquets for the tables for dinner. Somehow in my head, fresh flowers in your house meant you were rich and successful. If you had fresh flowers, you had an elevated sense of class and I wanted to be rich like that.

Through the growing pains of marriage, my husband realized that he needed to show me his love regularly and one of the ways he does that is flowers. Flowers as a surprise on my pillow, at my desk, or maybe laid on the kitchen table with a dark chocolate bar. In the last year, he has made this a regular practice and it will not ever get old!

The flowers are coming into my home like a train, one bouquet after another. The love of my husband, the love of a friend with a “drive-by bouquet” for no reason, the love of my friends and coworkers celebrating my birthday, Mother’s Day, and then the sudden turn of events that brought flowers of sympathy and loss into my home. Flowers were sent from Alaska to Orlando and back to Bartlesville.

Today I was sitting on my back patio enjoying working outside when I received a flower delivery. I was totally surprised and racked my brain thinking who would send this gorgeous bouquet to me and for what? The note was one of sympathy from a dear coworker that just had learned of the loss I endured on May 19th.

As I reflected on the endless train of flowers that have come into my house, I realized that each bouquet is a representation of my life that is Rich, so rich. Each bouquet represents people in my life that cherish, love, and support me. I am living in what was just a dream to me as a little girl, a house with fresh flowers, oh my goodness, I am Rich, successful, and classy!!

If we were to put a price tag on a friend, what would it be? Well, many of us are paying the price for the lack of friendships, the lack of community, and the lack of support systems, we see it everywhere. Not only that, but we spend money on lots of things in the absence of what should be normal, natural, and a way of life. How valuable is a friend?

As a young girl, I remember the first time I flew on a plane. I remember being fascinated with the people I saw in the airport in their suits and fancy business clothes traveling and I remember thinking I want a job where I can travel and dress up like a rich business lady.

I currently have a job where I travel! How is it possible that these little whispers of desire in my heart would come to me? How valuable is a job that you LOVE? How valuable is it to get paid to use all your gifts and daily help others in their growth journey? How valuable is it to have space, a schedule you want, and to gain hours back in your life because you do not have to commute to work?

Well, I think we can look around and see what happens when the opposite is true. Health issues, doctor’s bills, gas bills, eating out for lunch, fast food for dinner as we rush home from the long commute, missing the kid’s assembly, or rushing to make it to their ball game that just started. A job and the lifestyle I want, how valuable is this? I could get a job that made more $paper, but would it add more value to my life? How much is all this worth? What trades would I have to make?

I ran to the trail tonight, it was 8 pm but still plenty bright out. It was hot! So humid and no breeze. As I ran, I reflected on the train of flowers, my job(s), and the life I am getting to live, which is full of so many sweet things and simple pleasures.

How valuable are 20 neighborhood friends for the boys to run and play with until dark every night? How valuable is the pathfinder trailhead that is close enough to my front door that it calls me to come and run on it? How valuable is my quant coffee shop, just 4 minutes from my driveway? How valuable is a church community where I get to sing my heart out on Sundays and feel like I can be completely me? How valuable is a marriage where you are both happy? How valuable are friends? Friends, that are there when the tears won’t stop and when it is time to celebrate a new success?

As I reflected, I realized that there is a price you could place on these things, for when we don’t have them, we pay, we pay big time.

As the fireflies lit up the path for me and a swarm of dragonflies like a tornado spun around my head and then funneled up to the sky, as a bird made the sound of a “cat-call whistle” as I ran by and made me smile ear to ear. As this body that just recently betrayed me, successfully took me on my run and even had the courtesy to tell me if I did not stop and walk my last 10th of a mile, it was going to throw up the pizza I had at band practice, my heart swelled once again, what a life. I have been through some really hard seasons, some very deep pain, some very dark moments and I now am getting to experience the sunshine after the rain. I feel so much gratitude for my Rich, Rich, Rich LIFE. My Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. That you may be RICH beyond measure and that your home may also be FILLED with fresh flowers.