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Happy Go Stuckey

Tethering Grace & Togetherness

Growth in the Quiet Places, (or why I only need one shoe.)

March 10, 2015 by HappyGoStuckey 16 Comments

Confession time: I am a terrible gardener.

That is not to say I don’t love plants and flowers– because I do. I love the idea of having produce and flowers at my fingertips year round– and I love a little trip to Lowe’s garden center as much as anyone… but that is usually as far as it goes. I forget my plants. I neglect to water them. I love them and take photos of them to plaster on Instagram like any mother earth would– and then I completely forget they even exist.

It’s Lorelai Gilmore and Skippy the Hamster all over again.

Until the plants die, and then I’m crushed and I curse the Georgia clay and the beautiful shade-producing trees in our backyard and then my sweet husband reminds me that they lived a half life of being dehydrated most of the time. Oops.

So this year I purposed to be different, starting with the hydrangeas in our front yard. So much so that I pinned thoughts on taking care of them. Quickly learning I needed to “winterize” them by pruning before the buds came in, I marched outside armed with my pruning shears and big fat plans to get them ready for spring. (Spoiler alert, hydrangeas have to be pruned way before winter is nearly over, so if you’re reaching for your own pruning shears– I have to break it to you– we both missed the boat this year.) 

As I approached my brown, spindly dead-looking hydrangeas, I was completely startled to see them bearing new buds. In a yard full of dry, dormant plants, and without any help from me– they were pushing forward to the next thing. These tiny buds of spring were startling to me and I thought about them for several days. Even now, they remind me that not only is Spring coming– and we can’t stop it even if we try.

New growth comes after these seasons of quiet, of rest, of space where it seems nothing is happening for crying out loud. 

And though I know I need rest, I want specific rest. I want rest in my way, in the manner and form that I think I need it. So often I think of rest as something I willingly choose and enjoy with a good book or a pedicure.

But sometimes rest is exactly the opposite of desirable.

Sometimes rest is that which puts us in a place that feels ten steps back.

Two weeks ago, I had the amazing honor of speaking to a group of women on the topic of rest, margin and whitespace. I told them something along the lines of, “Beware of not allowing yourself to rest– God knows you need it, and He just might give it to you.”

And then. Two days later I sat in an Orthopedist’s office as he gave me this:

IMG_3506
Stress Fracture. Hello, six week boot. I am not pleased to meet you.

And I pitched a royal fit. Not in his office because well, I have some decorum.

But after, and I’m somewhat ashamed to say that every day since then I’ve asked the question with all the whine of a petulant child, “REALLY? Why now?” 

Clearly, I don’t mind slowing down on my terms. Every afternoon around 2:30 I slow down with coffee and words. Each night around 10PM I slow down with Wild Orange Oil and a fluffy pillow. But slow down in such a way that makes me miss my favorite form of exercise for six weeks and leaves me hobbling eight steps behind my children like a frustrated female version of Downton Abbey’s John Bates? No, thank you. 

Le Sigh. But there is a purpose to this “rest time” and as much as I come into it kicking and screaming, I certainly do not wish to waste it.

If the budding Hydrangeas have taught me nothing else… I know that the quiet should not be underestimated– for growth is happening under the surface.

And that things happen when we embrace the rest. Embrace the empty-spaces. Embrace the time where it appears nothing is happening. 

And even though this lesson is one I have been learning way back when it was still last year,

I am choosing again, anew, to respect the process and soak it all in. 

 

What process are you soaking in today? Would love your thoughts. <3

 

Prepping for Easter (and a book review!)
Real Moms Need Grace

Comments

  1. Meredith Bernard says

    March 10, 2015 at 5:34 pm

    Oh friend, I’m so sorry about your foot! And you made me laugh out loud, comparing yourself to John Bates from DA. 😛 This is so true, though…we should be eager to embrace the time when it appears nothing is happening. We have similar “greenish-brown” thumbs. I love plants..in the spring and fall. i hate weeds and weeding and watering, so it’s a love/hate relationship. And right now, it appears all is dead…but it’s not. In a few weeks what is brown will start to turn green and I’ll get giddy. And curse the weeds at the same time. All that to say, YES, embrace these days of waiting with an anticipation that awaits what God has coming next. Love you! Take care of that foot.xo

    Reply
    • happygostuckey says

      March 11, 2015 at 2:45 pm

      Thank you friend for the words of encouragement. It’s always a bright spot to hear from you! <3 Oh and I'm glad I'm not the only one to hate watering! Ha!

      Reply
  2. Meredith Bernard says

    March 10, 2015 at 5:34 pm

    Oh friend, I’m so sorry about your foot! And you made me laugh out loud, comparing yourself to John Bates from DA. 😛 This is so true, though…we should be eager to embrace the time when it appears nothing is happening. We have similar “greenish-brown” thumbs. I love plants..in the spring and fall. i hate weeds and weeding and watering, so it’s a love/hate relationship. And right now, it appears all is dead…but it’s not. In a few weeks what is brown will start to turn green and I’ll get giddy. And curse the weeds at the same time. All that to say, YES, embrace these days of waiting with an anticipation that awaits what God has coming next. Love you! Take care of that foot.xo

    Reply
    • happygostuckey says

      March 11, 2015 at 2:45 pm

      Thank you friend for the words of encouragement. It’s always a bright spot to hear from you! <3 Oh and I'm glad I'm not the only one to hate watering! Ha!

      Reply
  3. Jolene says

    March 10, 2015 at 6:52 pm

    Oh my! Not fun 🙁 Hope your time in that boot goes fast 🙂

    Reply
    • happygostuckey says

      March 11, 2015 at 2:46 pm

      Thank you Jolene! We’re one week down already so hooray for time moving!

      Reply
  4. Jolene says

    March 10, 2015 at 6:52 pm

    Oh my! Not fun 🙁 Hope your time in that boot goes fast 🙂

    Reply
    • happygostuckey says

      March 11, 2015 at 2:46 pm

      Thank you Jolene! We’re one week down already so hooray for time moving!

      Reply
  5. Faith Raider says

    March 11, 2015 at 7:48 am

    Yes!!! These quiet places can be the best for growing even if it’s hard to see what’s going on. I call them the under-ground seasons, or the root-growing season because everything is growing in hidden places and it’s hard for me to even see what is happening or growing until the next season comes and those sprouts start to spring up…

    Reply
    • happygostuckey says

      March 11, 2015 at 2:46 pm

      I love that, Faith. Root Growing Season. I can definitely always use time to go deeper and stronger, that’s certain. Thank you for your words.

      Reply
  6. Faith Raider says

    March 11, 2015 at 7:48 am

    Yes!!! These quiet places can be the best for growing even if it’s hard to see what’s going on. I call them the under-ground seasons, or the root-growing season because everything is growing in hidden places and it’s hard for me to even see what is happening or growing until the next season comes and those sprouts start to spring up…

    Reply
    • happygostuckey says

      March 11, 2015 at 2:46 pm

      I love that, Faith. Root Growing Season. I can definitely always use time to go deeper and stronger, that’s certain. Thank you for your words.

      Reply
  7. happygostuckey says

    March 15, 2015 at 3:59 pm

    Love you so much. Messages from you always brighten my day, friend. Grateful to call you family. <3

    Reply
  8. happygostuckey says

    March 15, 2015 at 3:59 pm

    Love you so much. Messages from you always brighten my day, friend. Grateful to call you family. <3

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. What I learned in March | Happy Go Stuckey says:
    March 30, 2015 at 6:00 pm

    […] given this piece of fancy footwear and the frustrating, “avoid the cardio for 6 weeks,” from a Doctor who cared very […]

    Reply
  2. What I learned in March | Happy Go Stuckey says:
    March 30, 2015 at 6:00 pm

    […] given this piece of fancy footwear and the frustrating, “avoid the cardio for 6 weeks,” from a Doctor who cared very […]

    Reply

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Hey There!

I'm Cynthia and I'm so glad you're here. I am an introvert with an extrovert's love of gathering people together. I love good books and capturing moments. Whether you visit me here or on my own front porch, I'll be the one holding the Iced Coffee for us both.

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happygostuckey

Joy is the courage of people who don’t have all Joy is the courage of people who don’t have all the answers, yet.

While you sit in a season of waiting,
the calendar can often be a cruel companion, reminding you that days go by, weeks, months— with what feels like very little change in the right direction.

Perhaps you can easily assent to: 
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick,

but you strain to see just how it will be when: “...a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” (Proverbs 13:12)

Wherever you and I are today— whether we wander, wait, stand firmly planted, or some pressed together combination of all three — we can take heart.

We are not alone.
And this will not be wasted.
What seems to be an unending blank space, an indefinite pause, is a space for new things.

Long before all is made right, and whether or not it all is tied up neatly with a perfectly crafted bow— we can know this:

We do not have to know the outcome to be faithful today.

✨Joy is not disregard for reality as much as it is obstinacy against despair.✨
Hi 👋🏻 I’m Cynthia and I’m a bit weary. T Hi 👋🏻 I’m Cynthia and I’m a bit weary. There. I said it. These days I’m gravitating to the true & the beautiful as rest for my weary self... and I wonder if you are too.

So much so, that I’m starting a new little offering, it’s called “The Feast: Wonder for the Weary” and the first issue goes out this weekend. It’s a bit more personal (okay this first one is WAY more personal. 🤭) It will be a little bit of everything, all with the goal of offering REST to both the feasters & foragers alike. If you’re already a subscriber— no need to do anything, if not— click through my bio to “keep in touch” and join the feast.✨
We are a people of both lament and praise. We hol We are a people of both lament and praise.

We hold questions without answers— yet we hold them in hands already full of good things.

We hold our daily bread, our daily gifts, and we hold the daily closeness of the God Who Sees.

The God who is no stranger to our lament, and Who Is the reason for our every hope.
He does not grow weary of our asking. Of our need to be told again, He will. 

You friend, are not invisible.
You are seen and cared for by the God who does all things well. (Even when they feel anything but.)
Married love ambition: making the kids roll their Married love ambition: making the kids roll their eyes at our “gushy-ness” as often as possible. 

President & CEO of the Lance Stuckey Fan Club— in every season, but especially on days like today.
Rainy day Mocha date, courtesy of our own toasty k Rainy day Mocha date, courtesy of our own toasty kitchen.😍🌧📚

On this chilly Saturday, we spent entirely too long browsing for books at our library and then all came home to a fire, mochas, and cocoa, respectively. Of all the things we do not know at this very moment, we know the gifts abound, and are worth counting.

PS, if you haven’t spread whipped cream on a foil-lined baking sheet to freeze, and then cut out cute shapes with cookie cutters to top your coffee or hot cocoa, may I suggest you get thee on that at once.
“If God sends us on strong paths, we are provide “If God sends us on strong paths, we are provided strong shoes.” — Corrie Ten Boom

✨File under, things to save in a fire.✨

The prayer journal pictured here contains six months of the hard & the sweet.
Six months of prayers asked & answered for ourselves and for others.
Six months of seeing through prayer, not how it changed our circumstances necessarily but how it changed us.

I always appreciate a record like this— being able to clearly see the paths we are led down, rocky though they may be? Priceless.

The ways God has come near us & drawn us to Himself again and again are written on these pages and I’ll treasure it forever.

Also pictured: Psalms Illuminated Scripture Journal. Highly recommend. Thank you always, @allifarnell
“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it th “The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.”
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

While scrolling through my photos today, my heart was heavy to realize how far back “before” was.

Before masks and distancing, before loss, before other, more personal bits of hard. Multitudinous change, neither all bad nor all good.

With our free time, we’ve introduced our girls to Tolkien, Bilbo, Frodo, and especially Samwise the Brave. They are officially hooked and we are delighted to watch them discover another world where evil doesn’t win, and the courage of the small matters much. {they close their eyes at the Orcs and we haven’t had a nightmare yet!}🤞🏻😂😬
I’m leaning increasingly more into the analog th I’m leaning increasingly more into the analog these days.

It started with the Sourdough and a dozen different kinds of jam last year.
I suddenly find great calm in activities that stand in direction opposition to hurry, the textbook definition of ✨work in progress.✨ And really, if you could see the other side of this piece, you would believe me. 🙃

Thank you to @thebarmyfox for making embroidery so accessible!
@thenester says, “It doesn’t have to be perfec @thenester says, “It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful,” and I believe that the weeknight meal equivalent is, “Just because it’s easy— doesn’t make it a second-tier supper!”

Thank you, Spaghetti with Meat sauce for being both a ministry to mom AND a crowd pleaser. Especially on a dreary January-ish day. It is ✨quite alright✨ to make something we’ve made a million times just because we know it makes the people happy.🍝
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