Award

Renee, from 2 Peas in a Pod has passed this award on to me. Thanks Renee - You deserve it right back! It was created by Maria from Free to Fly and this is what she says about it.

.

I have wanted to be able to make an award that I could share
with some of those blogs that consistently
make me laugh, make me think,
and inspire me to grow
and to reach.
The types of blogs that do this for me have a few things in common.
Like a butterfly becomes beautiful,
by living a quiet life, hidden for a season,
while beauty develops on the inside.
That same butterfly has to go through a season of struggle
before it is Free to Fly!
Once it IS Free to Fly,
that butterfly NOW has a beauty we all are blessed to see.
Everywhere the butterfly goes,
it spreads pollen and makes it possible for flowers to bloom
and fruit to be developed.
You could say it leaves a trail of life in its wake!
What a beautiful thought!
Butterflies don't go around trying to be beautiful.
They don't say "hey, look at me".
They just ARE, they just DO, they just LIVE.
All that time spent hidden in a cocoon,
was not wasted.
The time and effort spent struggling to get out of the cocoon
made the butterfly strong and ABLE to fly!
I have been blessed to find many women through blogging,
who have allowed the struggles of a hidden life,
serving in ways that are often unseen and seemingly inconsequential
(judging from their lack of entourage, paparazzi, and assistants!
That IS what our culture uses as the standard for recognizing importance, right?)
to make them strong, make them able to find the humor,
able to see the big picture and to find the purpose
in the everyday matters of investing in the lives around us.
Their ability to focus on the things that REALLY matter,
and to allow the struggles of life to strengthen them,
leaves everyone they come in contact with a deposit of "pollen".
A little dose of the grace that is unique to them,
which adds wisdom, humor, truth
and just a little whiff
of the fragrance of Christ that is unique to them!
They are some wives or mothers, grandmothers, daughters, and nieces.
They fulfill all sorts of roles in and outside the home.
In their church and outside their church.
The world is a more beautiful and abundant place
because of the daily choices they make.
There are two scriptures for this - they work together:
"He has made everything beautiful in its time.
He also has planted eternity in men's hearts and minds
[a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages
which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy],
yet so that men cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end."
Ecclesiastes 3:11
&
John 10:10
"The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy.
I came that they may have and enjoy life,
and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows)."

~~~

The worst thing about getting awards is passing them on! I always have such a hard time knowing who to pass them on to. I'm supposed to pass this one on to 5 people though, so here they are:

Kim from Scattered Stones

Cheryl from Cherdecor

Joanne from One so Blessed

Melissa from Mel's World

Chelle' from The World of Chelle'

You all touch me through your blogs and I see you all living beautiful lives, from the inside out.