A Tree
This week I picked up a copy of Katie Brown’s new book, “Dare to See- Discovering God in the Everyday“. If you don’t know who Katie Brown is, she is a lifestyle expert that I first discovered many years ago when she first came on the scene with a show called “Next Door with Katie Brown”. Each episode contained a cooking segment, a craft/diy segment and a gardening segment. It’s the kind of show that I love to watch and I was a fan from the beginning. She has gone on to do a multitude of other projects. You can find out what she’s all about over on katiebrown.com.
Katie recently came out with a book about her faith, short stories and excerpts from her life, where she (maybe not at the time) could see or feel God at work. This morning, as I neared the end of the book, I came across the chapter called “a tree”. Now, if you know ANYTHING about me, you know I love trees. Images of trees, Christmas trees, dead trees, flowering trees, trees, trees, trees! I painstakingly hand painted trees all the way around my family room walls, I doodle trees, heck, I even have a tree tattoo on my shoulder…I love trees! This my friends, is where the very subject of the book came full circle for me.
Katie tells the story of “The Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein. It’s about the relationship between a boy and a tree and how at different points in his life, the tree provides what the boy needs. She relates it to how she feels about home, or more specifically houses. The four walls we inhabit, the places we make our own. The walls that provide us with the things we need, at the time we need it. As I read the words, it was like she was speaking for me, like my thoughts were the same thoughts she shared. It’s probably easier to provide this excerpt, and get to the point rather than me rambling for 30 minutes and you still thinking “What?”.
“…Perhaps this is because of what I do for a living. To be clear, my entire adult life has been about all things home. A house and what it takes to turn that house into a home is my life’s work and my passion, both professionally and personally. To me this work is deeper than just furniture arranging, choosing wall colors, party menus or gift wrap. To me, my work is, was, and always will be about how to turn that house into a safe haven where people can create important traditions, confidences, intimacies, and securities. My work is to highlight the important role that a home can play in so many different ways in the development of a family’s lifestyle…“- Katie Brown, “Dare to See”
I literally, could not have said it better myself. It’s the thing that drives me most days. It’s the thing I’m most interested in, it’s the reason I do this blog, however sporadic and random it can be.
Katie goes on in the chapter to talk about a church home and how, if we participate we can get the things we need, at the times we need it from our church family within the four walls of our church home.
So, the point I’m really trying to drive home in this post is how I’m reading a book about how someone who loves all things “home” as much as me, has found God in the Everyday, good days and bad, and how I by reading that book found God’s message to me. Isn’t it funny how that works? I (much like Katie) don’t talk a lot about my faith and beliefs, that is for another day and another post.
What I know for sure today is that I’m on the right track. That I’m right where I’m supposed to be for now, and if you still don’t buy into what I’ve said, consider this….
For several weeks, I’ve been beating myself up about not keeping up with the blog and late l ast night, after deciding I needed to really focus, I designed a new logo for the header of the home page. Thinking it needed more of an impact than just my name, I decided to add…..wait for it……a tree. This morning I get to the chapter…”a tree”. I’ll just “leaf” (get it, leaf instead of leave….okay, I’ll stop) it at that for you to think about.
God Bless.
xo
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