Savor

Savor: a 3-part blog series on Savoring, Celebrating and Resting

The first stop on our three part series is a warm and cozy one.  There may be a fire in the fire place and a soft, plaid blanket to wrap up in, your favorite sweater, something hot to sip…

SAVOR.

What is the first thing you think of when you read that word?  Savor.  It deserves pause, a slowness all it’s own.  Maybe you think of food, like a savory meal.  Tell me I am not the only one who has gotten sucked into the Netflix series, “Chef’s Table.”  It is the most fascinating look at the world’s best restaurants (like there is a real ranking) and the chefs that have made them so… everywhere from rustic Padagonia to chic San Fransisco.  It tells the story of these innovators, their journeys with food, and their signature dishes.  Some of these meal are unlike anything I have ever seen before.  They bubble and fizz.  They are on fire or frozen inside of layers of something else.  They are simple and beautiful.  It is so captivating to me because, in the end, it is just dinner.  I mean, how many different things can be cooked in the world?  How many different ways can you plate grilled fish or chocolate cake?  After watching a few episode of “Chef’s Table,” I believe the answer is endless.

There are endless flavors to savor in the world.  Endless.  This is the world our God created, full of endless flavors to savor in food, people, seasons, experiences, and nature.

The definition of savor is this; “to give oneself to the enjoyment of; to savor the best in life.”. Does that feel a bit worldly to you?  A slippery slope perhaps?  Hedonistic even?  I get it, but I am here to fight for your right to savor as the people of God… honestly we should be the very best at it.

For wisdom on the art of savoring we will look to none other than King Solomon, the wisest man to ever live.  I Kings 3 chronicles young Solomon’s rise in wealth and wisdom by way of a dream in which God said to him, “Ask for whatever you want me to give to you.”  Wow.  I wish I could tell you honestly that I believe my request would have been as noble as Solomon’s.  Probably not.  But this is about him- not me!  

So Solomon says to God, “Now, Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David.  But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties.  Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number.  So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong.”

God is pleased with this request and answers, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked.  I will give you a wise and discerning heart so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there every be.  Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for- both wealth and honor- so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings.”

So, that’s our boy Solomon… the richest and wisest man to ever live.  He was born to King David and Bathsheba as a healing balm after losing their first son as a consequence of their sin.  Though his father David desired to build the temple and the Spirit had put the plans for it in his heart (I Chron. 28), God said that it would be Solomon who would act as contractor for the job.  We fall in love with his hot and heavy love story in Song of Solomon… life is good for this guy.

And then we get to Ecclesiastes, the book Solomon pens late in life, and we read this opening verse: “Meaningless, meaningless, utterly meaningless.  Everything is meaningless.”  Great, right?  It seems that at the end of this very rich, eventful, blessed life, we see Solomon looking back over it and wondering what the point was.  In all his wisdom, here is his conclusion: “Even so, I have noticed one thing, at least that is good.  It is good for people to eat and drink, and enjoy their work under the sun during the short life God has given them, and to accept their lot in life.  And it is a good thing to receive wealth from God and the good health to enjoy it.  To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life- this is indeed a gift from God.” (Ecclesiastes 5:18-20 NLT)

Think about the experiences Solomon’s life had been full of… being born into royalty, riches and knowledge beyond anyone’s comprehension, every earthly pleasure known to man at his fingertips… And in the end he says it is good to eat, drink, and enjoy the health, life, and possessions God has given to each of us.  Our lot in life.  He says it over and over:

A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil.  This too is from the hand of God, for without him who can eat or find enjoyment?” (Ecc. 2:24)

“I know there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live.  That each of them may eat and drink and find satisfaction in all their toil- this is the gift of God.” (Ecc. 3:12-13)

Do you know what the wisest man to ever live is telling you today?  He is urging you to savor your life, to give yourself over to the enjoyment of the the stuff of everyday.  After all, what do we all do every single day of our lives?  We eat.  We drink.  We work at things.  So with each bite, or sip, or task, we can choose to accept the gift that it is.  We can savor our ability to enjoy the simple things.  King Solomon doesn’t tell us to wish for grand events or royal ceremonies.  He isn’t singing the praises of life in the palace.  He doesn’t say that the best thing in life is arriving at the place where wealth is so plentiful toil becomes unnecessary.  He isn’t talking about feasts and festivals and holidays… He says the everyday stuff is the good stuff.

Why is this so hard?

I recently finished Mark Batterson’s book Wild Goose Chase: Reclaim the Adventure of Pursuing God in which he discussed the six “cages” he believes Christians are trapped in, keeping us from wholeheartedly chasing God.  One of those cages he calls the “cage of routine” in a chapter entitled “Dictatorship of the Ordinary.”  He contends that that we easily lose the joy of living when the sacred becomes routine and says, “We take constants for granted.  And that is the problem with God, if I may say it that way.  God is the ultimate constant.  He is unconditionally loving.  He is omnipotently powerful.  And His is eternally faithful.  God is so good at what God does that we tend to take Him for granted.”

I would add that we tend to take His provisions, the gifts He gives, those common graces for granted as well.  In September, the eye wall of hurricane Irma passed directly over my childhood home with my parents, brother, pregnant sister-in-law, and two-year-old niece inside.  After a sleepless, scary night- both in Florida and here on the Ranchito- the damage was minimal and all were fine.  But, as you can imagine, they lost electricity and water for close to a week.  Something they had taken for granted just the day before, something most of us take for granted everyday, they were suddenly without.  After 6 days with no power and no running water, you can bet they savored that first night sleeping with air conditioning again, that first real shower, that first time to flip a switch and have a light come on.  Everyday stuff, a great gift.

Listen, I love a fancy hotel.  In fact, I think “Fancy Hotel” is my love language, but I seek to savor sunsets on my very own front porch.  I enjoy a beautiful meal, but I seek to savor pizza picnics with the kids under the lights at the Ranchito.   I love opportunities to speak to groups of women, but I seek to savor funny group texts with my tribe.  An expensive bottle of wine is lovely and never lost on me, but I will savor the dog out of a Route 44 Vanilla Coke from Sonic. Why?  Which of those things happen more often?  Which are the things of the everyday?  In my life it is the sunsets, the pizza picnics, the Vanilla Cokes, the group texts.    When we look through the filter Solomon is teaching us about, we have opportunities to savor all the time.

As my favorite poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning says, “Earth’s crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God.  But only he who sees takes off his shoes; the rest sit round it and pluck at blackberries.”

During this Golden Hour, may we take off our shoes.

I believe the disciple of savoring, of enjoying our “lot in life” as Solomon puts it, is deeply spiritual and much more than a warm and fuzzy word to throw around the fire.  Luke 16:10 says, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much.”  When you cannot savor the little things, the ordinary things, the constants, you may be blocking the blessings God has next.  When your tastebuds are burnt from discontent, you will never be able to taste new flavors.

Here is a bonus word on our little tour that I have recently come across it and am currently obsessed with…  I now own a sweatshirt with it printed on it and it will be my theme for our holidays (you are welcome to share):

HYGGE.

It is a Danish word and practice, pronounced “hue-guh.”  Here is a summary of what it encompasses: “a feeling or moment, whether alone or with friends, at home or out, ordinary or extraordinary experienced as cozy, charming, or special; only requires consciousness, a certain slowness, and the ability to not just be present but recognize and enjoy the present; the art of creating intimacy, coziness, charm, happiness, contentedness, security, familiarity, comfort, reassurance, kinship, and simpleness, being aware of a good moment.”. Do you love it?

This is my goal as the holidays approach.  I want a hygge filter.  I want to create intimacy with my people my God.  I want to open our home up every chance we get and have the hygge spill out onto our community.  I want to not just be present in the little things, but I want to savor them.  I believe it is holy work.  I believe, as Solomon said, it is a gift from God.

So here’s to hayrides and hygge… to fires and friends… to something warm in your cup and Autumn in your heart… to Solomon and savoring… to S’Mores and simple gifts… to Ecclesiastes and every common bush being afire with God.

Take your shoes off.

And remember to subscribe for a chance to win the “Savor the Season” Fall Bundle, full of beautiful gifts to usher in a moment of HYGGE for yourself. (Can I win my own give away?  Seriously?  It’s all so pretty!!!)

Fall Savor the Season Subscriber Incentive

Savor, Celebrate, Rest, Repeat and a Basket of Goodies

Savor the Season Fall Bundle

This Savor The Season Giveaway is now closed!

I wonder if it is Fall yet where you are.  I am seeing everything from snow to beach vacations pop up on my feed daily and I think elusive Autumn is fighting for it’s place somewhere in-between.  My kids are watching Elf and listening to Christmas music while running barefoot and shirtless until after dark.  Not me.  Nope.  No Christmas until after Thanksgiving.  Let Fall have it’s day!  There have been some cool mornings here on the Ranchito… I am anticipating the debut of a pair of new boots I have been wanting for a year.  The pumpkin spice creamer is in the coffee, the Fall candle is burning beside my Bible.  Let it sink in.

I love this time of the year because the anticipation of the approaching holidays is just starting to tickle our senses without the crushing pressure of it all yet.  We know it is coming… the planning, the decorating, the cooking, the shopping, the wrapping, the school parties and full schedules.  We will be waist deep in all the fun and festivities and busyness soon enough.

But not yet.

This is the golden hour.

We are just on the cusp and from here the coming months still look dreamy and picturesque. We are full of hope that this will be the year that expectations will be met, that we will actually slow down and enjoy it all, that we will not lose our ever-loving minds.  So here we are BEFORE.  Before it is too late and the rollercoaster of demands has us strapped onto its dizzying ride.  My hope for us all is that we will anchor deeply here in this golden hour so that when the winds of the coming season blow we will not be shaken.

So here in this “Before,” while we all still have a moment to breathe, and a thought in our head, I want to share with you some of my favorites…

Beautiful words top the list.

They always have and they always will.  I love a beautiful word.  I was reading Elizabeth Barrett Browning when everyone else my age was reading Sweet Valley Twins and The Babysitter’s Club, because give me all the beautiful words.  When I was a little girl, I thought my dream job would be getting to name lipsticks, nail polish, and paint colors, because let me use all the descriptive words.  This summer, on a girls’ trip with 3 of my dearest friends, I noticed that my bestie would pull pictures up of potential restaurants and their fare on her phone to decide if it was a contender.  She is visual.  Unsatisfied, I inevitably would want to read the description of the setting or entrees, because tell me all the delicious words.  I am a verbal processor as well.  I need to say all the words.  And to be fair, in relationships, I’m going to want you to say a lot of words too… they don’t have to be words about me, or important words.   I just want to feel connected to you in all the adjectives you can come up with.  So when I come across good words that represent beautiful things, important practices, spiritual disciplines I want to imprint on my life, I hold them tight.  I want to talk about them and learn from them and write them on chalkboards in my home and share them with my friends… So here we are.

Savor, Celebrate, Rest, Repeat. 

Those are good words.  They feel good on my lips when I say them… chant them even, like a sacred mantra.  They feel like a breath of fresh air.  Like Fall.  Like this “Before” space.  Like a golden hour.

Let’s dive in and anchor ourselves in these important words and practices together over the coming weeks.  We will take each one apart and give it it’s moment in the sun, in our hearts.  We will roll it over in our mouths and in our lives.  I hope you will join me for this 3 part series.

In the end, these favorite words will be joined by a basket full of favorite fall goodies for one lucky subscriber to savor…

Savor the Season Fall Bundle

Just make sure that you have subscribed to A Word That Matters to be entered to win the following:

  1. This lovely Spiced Pumpkin and Clove Fall candle to cozy up with on a cool morning.

Seventh Ave. Apothecary Spiced Pumpkin and Clove Candle2. The cutest “Morning Pumpkin” mug you’ve ever seen {It’s currently SOLD OUT too!}.

Francesca's Morning Pumpkin Coffee Mug3. A bag of my favorite “Porch Blend” coffee roasted by my friends Travis and Megan Voskamp at their roastery Leapknot Coffee.  Drink it on the porch (obviously) in the cute mug while watching their inspiring story here.

LeapKnot Coffee Roasters Porch Blend Coffee Beans4. This beautiful gather” sign from Magnolia Market.  All the heart eyes… no explanation needed!

Magnolia Market "Gather" metal sign

5. “The Road Back to You” by Ian Morgan Cron.  I cannot tell you enough how into this book I have been over the last 3 months.  I have made all of my people read it because I am literally unable to have a face to face conversation that doesn’t involve the Enneagram.  (I’m a 4 by the way… thus all the beautiful words).  OBSESSED. That is all.

The Road Back to You by Ian Morgan Cron

6. And last but certainly not least, a copy of a recipe for “Suz’s (MY MOM’S) Pumpkin Cookies.”  Seriously, these are the best things you will ever put in your mouth.  I am a terrible baker, (or at least a reluctant one), but if you come to the Ranchito from September to November, you can bet there will be a plate of these waiting for you!  So so so good!

So, subscribe for your chance to win a few of my favorite fall things.  And meet me back here soon for our 3 part series: SAVOR, CELEBRATE, REST (Repeat).

Happy Fall Y’all!

That’s Refreshing

That's Refreshing blog image of girl squirting a hose

I love to water my plants.  It’s like therapy.  In the middle of a loud, long, busy day I love to go outside, take a deep breath, turn on the hose and water those plants.  Back and forth, back and forth on the sweet potato vine spilling over in the Sunset Porch… back and forth, back and forth over herb garden by the kitchen …. mist the mint in the window box, water the pots of geraniums in the front, the wheelbarrow of ivy by the door,  and the basket hanging from the shepherd’s hook out by the gate.  If you are stressed, peace may be as close as the nearest water hose.  Seriously, go try it and then come back to read the rest of this post…

Good, right?

One day recently, the constant drone of late summer “Mom,! Mom! Mom!” forced me outside for my daily watering wind-down.  I slipped out the front door undetected, slipped on my gardening clogs waiting there faithfully, and took several deep breaths as I went over to the closest hose and spigot.  As I reached down to turn the handle, I realized it had been left twisted in the on position.   When I squeezed the nozzle at the other end, sure enough the water rushed out with the appropriate force of “shower, jet, or mist” – whatever I chose.

And God blew my mind a little.

If it had been left on all night, where was the water?  Why was the ground dry?  Where was it stored?  The hose?  The wall?  The pipes? . How could it be on, but stopped?  Would the pressure not eventually blow my nozzle?

That's Refreshing blog image of girl squirting a hose

I was so excited and curious I called my husband. About a water hose.  In the middle of a work day.  “Babe, when the water is on at the spigot but the nozzle isn’t being squeezed, you know, where is that water?  Is it in the hose?  Is it in the pipe?  Does it not come out until the nozzle is being used even though it is on?”

“Which hose is it?”

“No, it doesn’t matter which hose.  Any hose in the world.  How does that work?”

“Is the nozzle stuck?  There is probably a wrench in the garage you can use to …”

“No, there is nothing wrong.  I just want to understand how it works.”

“Ummm, like the physics?”

“Yes, I guess.  The physics.”

[Insert slightly exasperated sigh] “So there is a ball valve……”  BLAH, BLAH, BLAH.  OK, NEVER MIND.  THANKS AND BUH-BYE.

It turns out that I didn’t need to understand the physics to understand that was me.  The nozzle.  I’m a nozzle.  You are too.

Jesus refers to Himself and the Holy Spirit as water, living water, often in Scripture.  I’m a water person so this metaphor resonates deeply in my spirit.  Sometimes in this desert town,  I can feel a longing for the Atlantic Ocean of my home from skin to soul. And sometimes, in a desert season, I can feel a longing for the living water even more.  I get water.  Let these words wash over you:

“Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”  John 7:37-38

“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst.  Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”  John 4:13-14

“For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring and my blessing on your descendants.”  Isaiah 44:3

Isn’t that as refreshing as a Vanilla Coke in the middle of August?

So if Jesus is the living water, and His Holy Spirit is given to us at the moment of our salvation- if it is turned on- where is all the water?  In the hose?  In the pipe?  What are the physics?

The problem is the nozzle.

Though the water my plants need is ready, and on, and life giving, until the nozzle is put to use, it does them no good.  They can wither and die right there next to the hose, next to the spigot, next to the unused nozzle.

Though the living water is available to each of us as believers, though streams of living water are promised to flow out of every area of our lives, we can wither and die too if we don’t do our part.

You see, the Holy Spirit is a gentleman.  He is powerful, and life changing, but He is still and gentle as well (I Kings 19:12).  Just like I can choose how strongly the water will come out of my nozzle, I can choose to allow the Holy Spirit to flow, or be quenched in my life (I Thessalonians 5:19).  Jeremiah 2:13 says, “My people have committed two sins; They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”

 Sisters, how are your cisterns?

Are you clawing at rock hard ground, trying to dig a dry cistern, all the while the spigot of the Holy Spirit is perpetually on and available?  Are you trying to refresh yourself with dust, next to a spring of living water?   Our lives, our culture, perhaps even our churches are littered with the broken, shattered pieces of cisterns that can never hold the water we need.  We know it instinctually, when we are pulling the bucket up from the dry cistern… of comparison, of wine, of beauty products, of social standing, of “likes,” of Netflix.  Don’t forsake the deep wells.

Use the nozzle.

Refreshing is what I need at the end of these long, loud, hot summer months.  I feel myself wilting beneath the grind of these days but already withering a bit under the heat of the expectations the next season holds.  Anyone else?  Here is how we get to the water we need::

“The law of the Lord is perfect, REFRESHING the soul.”  Psalms 19:7

He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He REFRESHES my soul.  He guides me along the right paths for His name’s sake.”   Psalm 23:2-3

“[You] will REFRESH the weary and satisfy the faint.”  Jeremiah 31:25

“Repent, then, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of REFRESHING may come from the Lord.”  Acts 3:19

AND MY NEW MOST FAVORITE VERSE:

“A generous person will prosper; whoever REFRESHES others will be REFRESHED.”  Proverbs 11:25 (Do you loooooovvvveeee it?) 

There is a big bucket of living water for you. There are the ways we squeeze the nozzle.  Here are the physics: the law of the Lord, quiet soul-refreshing time with Jesus, coming to Him when we are weary and faint, repentance, and generosity. We are refreshed in the act of refreshing of others.  So, who can you refresh today with a kind word, with a extra moment, with a smile or a hug or a listening ear?  With a Vanilla Coke?    If you look around and see some areas of your life drying up and withering like an English rose in West Texas, try one of these settings on the nozzle.  The spigot is on.

Let’s turn this thing to “jet” and claim what is ours!  Living water- deep wells of it, streams and springs and rivers of it… Now that’s refreshing!