Brave Bluebells

The bluebells are blooming in our studio garden.  They pushed their heads up through the dirt, moss, and pine straw last week and this morning they've been catching dew drops on their turned-up curly heads. We've caught them dancing around too.

We think it's because they've been brave.  
Brave enough to push through the hard, brown barrier that hung over their heads all winter long. 
Brave enough to believe their Creator had a purpose for them.  
Brave enough to trust the love they are wrapped in.  


When you've been so beautifully created, wrapped in such love, how could you not be brave?
When someone cares enough to trace the length of your petals with lavender love lines, mist your face with drops of dew from Heaven and wrap your heart in a tender embrace... you can push through anything.  

Love makes you brave.

"You make me brave, you make me brave,

 You call me out beyond the shore into the waves

You make me brave, you make me brave

No fear can hinder now the promises you have made."

                         Bethel Music

So take a cue from the bluebells.  Be Brave.

You can push through any challenge you face today with the strength that comes from being loved by God.

"Fear not, for I am with you;

Be not dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you,

Yes, I will help you,

I will uphold you with My righteous right hand."

Isaiah 41:10

The Velvet Lime Girls

Coaster with Velvet Lime Girls artwork, courtesy of 

Legacy Publishing Group

Purple Grace

Just beyond the last coreopsis still standing in our studio garden, a cloud of purple flowers floats above the flowerbeds closing up for winter.  

The purple mist appeared just as fall began, carrying a bright hope that covered all the weary, heavy-burdened, faded flowers, standing valiantly in the face of the soon coming chill. 
With its soft, purple blanket, the flowers draped the garden in a silent, beautiful grace. 

A beautiful purple grace.

A grace that carried our hearts and minds back to the grace given to all of us by God. 

A grace that covers weary, heavy-burdened, faded lives and brings a beauty to all who reach out and let grace pull a heavy blanket of love over their lives. 
It's beautiful, it's life changing, it's amazing.  
It's amazing grace.

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."  2 Corinthians 12:9

With temperatures dipping below freezing tonight, we wanted to warm your heart and soul with the  

purple grace that blooms in our garden, gently reminding us of God's beautiful, amazing grace.

The Velvet Lime Girls

Giving Roses

Bushels of roses spill all over our studio garden this time of year.   We plunge them into vases, pass bouquets on to those stopping by to visit, and share them with just about everyone.

They just keep blooming.
Blooming, blooming, blooming...an endless tangle of flushed petals, drenched with the scent of heaven.









The more we give them away, the more they come.
We just can't out-give the roses.



It's as if the giving triggers an unseen force inside their tiny ruffled faces and they explode in pink profusion at the very site of the last cutting...the last giving place.

They seem to whisper one of our favorite quotes, by 
Saint Francis of Assisi, in every scattered petal...
"It is in giving that you receive."


The little roses know a hidden truth. 
Life is enriched, fulfilled, multiplied ... as we give.
Giving doesn't take away from us ... it releases us to be more than we could ever imagine.

Giving, real giving, scatters self-focus to the wind and showers the world around you with grace, beauty and the very fragrance of heaven.

Oh, you are so beautiful when you give.  

When you pour yourself out for others.  

When you live your life to be a blessing.

Inspired to embrace a life of giving more,

The Velvet Lime Girls

"Give away your life; you’ll find life given back, but not merely given back—given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity.” 

Luke 6:38 - The Message

Poppies!

A poppy burst open this morning in our studio garden. 
It's been said that one can actually hear the sound of a poppy opening...a subtle little "pop!" 
One thing's for sure, they do make a grand entrance!
A poppy opens up with such bright faced joy, and summer surprise in its petals, that we've wondered if it silently plans the explosive, celebratory debut for weeks ahead, inside its fuzzy little head?  

That little head must swirl around with thoughts of celebration, joy and gratitude...and it's probably because the poppy has its mind set on right things, on good things, on the beauty that is to come in its life.

This poppy unfolded a few thoughts in us today. Thoughts about the same joy, the same celebration, that we can hold in our hearts, as we, like the poppy, set-our-minds-on-good things, good thoughts and promises spoken directly to our hearts by God.
 
We know that when we let our thoughts, inspired by God, swirl around in our heads and hearts, we too, like this fresh-faced poppy, will be able to lift our heads and be filled with a joy, a gratitude, that simply overflows and kind of "pops" out into our own worlds.

So today, we'll be looking at the poppy party going on and letting our hearts join in with lovely thoughts like this...
"Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of The Lord rises upon you."
Isaiah 60:1

Enjoying the party in the garden and in our hearts,
The Velvet Lime Girls

Transformations

 You have so much hidden inside of you. So much strength, courage, ability, gifts, love, joy and beauty to spill out in this big world.  It's easy to get focused on just what we see on the outside, or what we are feeling, experiencing or living in at the moment. Those hard, crusty times that try their best to hold us back, reign us in, and freeze us into thinking that this is how life will be forever.

This little flower sure could have felt that way all summer long. When every flower in the garden was blooming away, it stood stiff and green, encapsulated in a fuzzy, firm shell. 

Unnoticed. Hidden. Obscure. 

Stuck forever in the plain and ordinary doldrums. 

But inside, a transformation was going on, and at the right moment, that hard, compressed shell just split open and a beautiful new creation burst out. 

ALL THIS was inside that tiny bud the whole time!

This new creation doesn't even look like it came from the same plant!  It has a new nature, a new look, a new "countenance" about it...and life will never be the same for this little flower! Gone are those doldrum days when it's beauty, grace and potential were hidden. 

This flower reminds us of the "new life", the total transformation, the absolute turn-around that can happen in our lives when we connect with God. We can be completely changed.  We can become "a new species of being that never existed before". We can let the very nature of God indwell us. And that really changes everything. It's only a matter of time before things begin to even look different around you, because you'll be viewing life with a renewed outlook, a renewed vision and a transformed set of eyes.

We like the way The Message says it:

"Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons!

 2 Corinthians 5:16-17

Celebrating transformations in the garden and in lives,

The Velvet Lime Girls

The Jewels of Autumn

The "Jewels of Autumn" are here. Pomegranates!

Those round, plump, crown-topped orbs, that hold  glistening, shimmering, translucent, rose-tinged, succulent seeds called arils.
                 

A pomegranate tree grows near our studio and we were delighted to pick some recently.

Oh, what a thrill it is to open up a fresh picked pomegranate. It's like opening a package with a million little gifts inside.

Those little gifts, the translucent arils hiding inside, are nestled in creamy compartments and seem to explode in celebration when the outer skin is peeled back.

Like rose-colored confetti tumbling out of a piñata, they pop, back-flip and jump out, with saucy exclamations of "surprise!"  It's like they've been having a party inside there all along, and we've just been invited to join in.

What a delight their sweet, slightly tart, pops of flavor bring!  You just need to go try one, fresh from the market or a tree.  Even if it's not your cup of tea, it's a treat for the eyes with its color combinations, varied textures and "crown top" calyx.

These pomegranates have had us musing about all their lovely mentions in literature, poetry and quotes.For centuries, they've graced historic columns, symbolized favored blessings and whispered softly in romantic tales and legends.  Our favorite mention from history, however, is the simple one found below.  It's a promise, much like the pomegranate itself, filled with numerous assurances of good things to come. 

"... walk down the roads God shows you and reverently respect Him. God is about to bring you into a good land...it’s a land of wheat and barley, of vines and figs and pomegranates, of olives, oil, and honey.  

Deuteronomy 8:6-8

So, if your world is a little dry, your surroundings a little barren, your spirit a little thirsty...let our pomegranates encourage you today.  They grow and thrive in dry, barren, thirsty climates...always carrying the "promises" inside their hearts.

Enjoying our juicy pomegranates today...one little aril, one little promise, at a time,

The Velvet Lime Girls

P.S. A special thanks to Maria & Andreas Ladikos...
 for sharing their pomegranates.

Summertime

                                                         SUMMER

When time rolls out like a long stretch of beach.

Time 

to

collect seashells

build sandcastles

catch lightening bugs

stretch out on a beach blanket

chase fiddler crabs 

walk in the surf

count stars

body surf

fly kites

eat shrimp

feed seagulls

stroll on a beach

find hermit crabs

leave footprints in the sand

flashlight walk at night 

run through sand dunes

 look at shooting stars

catch crabs

relax...

Enjoy this first day of summer,
The Velvet Lime Girls

Garden of Your Heart

Our studio garden is bursting with new life.  Frilled bonnets of ferns are peeking out, pointed party hats of hostas pierce the soil and peonies peel back the earth's canopy, unfurling themselves in a long leisurely stretch, presenting blooms of pink explosions that seem to say, "Ta-da! I'm here!  Oh, they're thrilled to stretch their leaves and live fully again!

Soon they'll be bearing "fruit".  

Glorious, vibrant flowers, filled with  aroma, fragrance and millions of seeds for future generations.  Their "fruit" always reflects the condition of the garden.  

Healthy garden = healthy flowers = healthy fruit.  

It's a simple formula and one that requires a bit of diligence on our part.   We have to keep the weeds out!

Weeds can be sneaky.  They look small and insignificant, but if left unattended they sap the very life of the garden. With weeds around, the fruit from the garden never matures fully, never develops into all that it can be and lives far below it's potential.

In the same manner, the gardens of our heart have to be clear of weeds. Those pesky, small and insignificant things that sap the life out of real living.  Things like anger, bitterness, resentment and unforgiveness.  They stunt our growth and they just have to go! Sure, they can stay, but that garden of your heart, the essence of the real you, will never develop fully and you'll find yourself living far below your potential.  So, pull those "weeds" up! Let them be replaced by grace, forgiveness and a heart filled with gratitude.  It takes a little diligence, faith and the hand of God, reaching down, grabbing those gnarly roots and uprooting them forever... divinely removing their very memory and changing the landscape of your life.

Oh, the growth that can occur in a garden without weeds and a heart garden that's been touched by the hand of the Master gardener...clearing the ground of the heart and saturating it with buckets of love.

It's a total terrain transformation.  One that's followed by fragrance, real fruit and good seeds for future generations.

Healthy Heart = Healthy Life = Healthy Living

Tending the gardens of our hearts,

The Velvet  Lime Girls

Loving Places

                             Loving places.  

Those simple, ordinary spots in a day that leave a
deposit of love in your heart and a memory to nourish your soul.  

They're moments framed in time by the season's beauty
                    

    softening the walkways of life ...   






settling gently on the windowsills of the soul









Cup your hands and receive the loving moments that surround you every day.

 
Look and see all the ways you are surrounded by love ... and let your heart dance today!

God's put on a show out there 

     
                                                     



                                        and invited you to play!                                

                                          



Living in loving moments,
The Velvet Lime Girls