My Man Gave Me Fresh Cut Flowers

The simple joys in life are found in flowers...

I was standing in the long grocery store check out line which gave me time to observe what others were purchasing. A few men had bouquets of flowers as the main course in their basket. I wondered to what occasions these little bundles were going to be given. I did know whatever the occasion a smile is what they should bring. This little exercise got me wondering about the bouquet.

The typical scene of 'man gives flowers to woman' abounds in novels, film and the not so kind world of the cliche. The bouquet has a universal pull on everyone's psyche. The bouquet can be generalized by calling it a bunch of flowers, it can be used as a relationship opener and rejection diffuser or an apology smoother. The most sought after bouquets are those given in love.

Our human emotions play a big role in the act of giving natural beauty which acts as a voice to our intentions. We owe a lot to these relationship builders God created for our good. So let's take the bouquet back from the grips of banality and habitual monotony and laud what these botanical creatures can really do.

My '18 Year' Bouquet

What My Bouquet 'Said' to Me

1. When my husband came through the door with the wild array in his hands. My heart jumped a little knowing he was one of those men I observed in the grocery store choosing a specific arrangement for the love in his life. He took time out of his day to think of me in a specific way.

2. I looked at the varietal blooms and each one was vibrant with color. The visual beauty was stunning. The textures, shades and hues added a new interest to the same old surroundings.

3. I immediately wanted to touch the soft petals of the Carnation, feel the brain-like structure of the Celosia and gaze long at the purple variation of the Amaranth. With daily chores that bespatter the typical day, the silky contrast was welcomed.

4. The Cockscomb (Celosia) was my favorite, it is suggestive of a highly colored brain. Something I'd like to feel I can lay some claim too. A woman likes to be loved for her brain as well as her body.

5. This floral offering was in no way mundane. I put it on the bedside table and when I awoke this morning something alive and beautiful was staring back at me. As I go about my day's work, I'll occasionally pass it and an appreciative thought towards my husband dances through my mind.

I sure hope that the five things I listed can help those hard working, providing, love mates with a new perspective on the bouquet. They really aren't cliches unless your heart says they are.

A little ditty to Feeling Good! Sing it Nina!

(Analogy, not pantheism or deep ecology intended)

Song of Solomon 5:6

I like writing about the Bible every now and then, as it is my favorite book of all time. There are treasures in that wonderful book written by Holy Spirit inspired men who followed and knew God. The truths are timeless, the themes are countless, earth history is established, plans and plots are revealed. I could go on in the endless details this book has in it but I want to focus on a lesser known, or talked about feature. The fact the Bible is a romance.

God romances your soul through true intimacy. It is a pure, luring of your heart wherein He makes you what you were meant to be. It's true love in action. Having relationship with God is sometimes painful, other times emotionally charged; it isn't a stretch to say passion can be defined in allowing God to change you.

God romances our souls and shows us a better way, the Bible also talks about human romance too. God did give us the institution of marriage, love and yes, sex as something to enjoy. The world has taken these God-given gifts and twisted them but that's for another post. For now, I want to focus on the gift of romance.

Sexual love, desire and passion are dominant themes in the book called The Song of Solomon. Yes, there are double meanings to many passages in this book. Many scholarly commentaries discuss the allegory of Christ's love for His people. I'd like to point out the Song of Songs is also what it seems, a poetic literary romance.

Maybe you're blushing at this point in the post, but stop for a minute and think about this book of the Bible that so many read in secret or don't even bother to try and understand because of it's content and the author. Oh my, Solomon certainly had major issues where all this is concerned but that is for another post. I want to focus on the purity of the message found in this guide to romance.

If your committed in marriage to your spouse, there is no reason not to enjoy romancing them and share your passion in an intimate nature. If couples would inwardly focus their desires on each other, there would be a lot less infidelity in this world. Couples should create a secret love world all their own, a safe haven where the outside world can't shake its foundation. This is one lesson I glean from reading Solomon's love poetry.

I have taken chapter five, verse six of the Song of Songs and in my own way described the scene (It's her dream). Abishag was uncertain of partaking of her spouses desires and rejects his advances. She is restless and regrets her cold indifference, after realizing her mistake she searches for him in the dark streets, where shadows and fear lurk, only when she finds her love is she safe again.

Watercolor on Tile by: Nathan Brown

Song of Solomon 5:6

In her bed lay a maiden bare

with flowing spun adumbral hair

Her beloved did come at twilight hour

Allured be her loves' strong power

He knocked and beckoned so he could see her.

She neglected to let him enter.

Toppling here and there, her heart did rise

thus running to the door she did realize

her absence of action created a demise,

She thrust the door open and looked around

to find her lover was not there and

could not be found.

Her ear was strained for the calm of his voice,

the fall of his footsteps to make her heart rejoice.

Deep within her soul did hoist

a cry to the empty darkness, her eyes went moist.

Her brow did strain the shadows while standing upon the threshold,

her fleshly arms crawled from shivers cold

but in her depths roaring passions glowed,

Wrapping her shoulders with finest linen

she set afoot to find her given.

Treading along cobble and lane

she came upon the watchmen

who treated her in vain.

She pleaded and asked if they had seen her Lover,

then they struck and took her linen cover.

She escaped their taunts and stole away

Just as dawn beckoned the day.

Her eyes she lifted from road to yonder

and discovered her beloved,

she need no more wander.

Her hands did ache to be filled with his cloak

And her legs rushed swiftly.

They barely spoke.

She held him and would not let him go

walking arm and waist,

until safely they had sheltered at her families' abode.

Her bosom heaved from raging currents

as she unraveled separations torrents.

His strong arms enveloped her storm

and calmly her heart settled,

Safe,

No more forlorn.

Chandra Debee 1998

Now go read Song of Solomon and apply the lessons to the one God gave you to love. Ahh, romance!
Happy Valentines Day!

WOW, just read an article where mysticism has infiltrated the church and people are equating their intimacy with God as a 'sexual' experience... I do not intend this at all in my writing. God does show you how to love and does change you in a very intimate way, but to connotate a relationship with 'sexual' intimacy is wrong! It is NEW AGE deception!

Here is some awesome teaching on this passage... Come Lord Jesus... In full context... Are you ready for Jesus?

Why A Man Should Give Their Wife Fresh Cut Flowers

The month of February is upon us, Valentines Day is around the corner and once again I hear radio spots and television ads marketing love and romance. I get kind of grumpy when I see the grocery displays eagerly calling out for that purchase. I think my feathers get ruffled from the chintzy feel of this packaged Holiday and the pleading, cojoling and manipulation of the great institution of love.

Although I think about the fixed date 'Love Day' on the calendar with a bit of antagonism; most likely due to my whimsical side chattering to my practical side about the discrepancies of surface gestures, I do love when someone truly digs down deep into their heart and shows their significant other what they mean to them. Especially when a date doesn't dictate they do it.

My husband created three water color on tile art pieces depicting our love when we first met. His creative, giving of himself through his perspective of us melted my heart. Through sixteen years of marriage I have seen our story in those paintings and they have become one of the most precious material possessions I own. This particular gift was spontaneous, it was given of self, it said it all without speaking. If the house was burning and I had to pick the material items that meant the most to me, it would be those art pieces.

Peonies
Photo By: julierocks

Now, I know spouses can't give gifts of that caliber to each other all the time and sometimes trinket gifts make you smile and have their purpose in the spectrum of love story-telling. This is why I want to discuss the age-old romantic gesture of why a man should give their wife fresh cut flowers.

I must admit, I shot myself in the foot on this one. I've let the practical side of myself take a little too much of my personality. I'm happy to say, the whimsical side gained some power and finally won the argument over fresh cut flowers.

My stodgy practical self used to say, "Don't bother buying me fresh cut flowers, they die." Now, if I was thinking clearly, the complete thought to this statement would have jumped in behind the absurd comment with, "Yes, of course, flowers die whether they are fresh cut or attached to the plant. So why not enjoy them both ways."

With my newfound, complete thought I have taken a few moments to slow down when I see those annoying grocery store displays of packaged flowers intended to arouse pleasure from the senses and I smell the roses, so to speak. They are scrumptiously beautiful, artfully arranged, breath taking to say the least. I have even taken a few of them home recently just for the celebration of seeing these gorgeous creatures grace my dining table or maybe the sideboard, or no, I like it on the bathtub ledge. I move the well arranged bunch around the house to see how the sunlight hits the water in the glass vase or how the colors of the flowers graces a window pane or how a wall is used as a backdrop to the ever changing art medium of flowers.



Yes, I have changed my thinking about fresh cut flowers. They subtly say, "I'm only here for a brief moment, make me last as long as you can and enjoy me in every way possible." An aphorism that mimics life.

So, if you're a man that has a wife take a little extra time to find a winsome bouquet of fresh cut flowers that speaks to who she is this Valentines Day. They will keep adding to those little things you do that make her proud she chose you.

The Test Of Love

I've mentioned the good man I've found in my husband in previous posts and said I was going to tell you more about him.  Yesterday was his birthday and we celebrated with a homemade meal. I roasted champagne rosemary chicken, tossed a blackberry vinaigrette salad and served it with warmed french bread and a delicious Zinfandel wine. Alex, our daughter has been interested in baking lately so she helped make a lemon orange glazed pound cake for dessert.

Happy Birthday Champagne Toast!
Photo by: Alex Brown

The day was a constant drizzling rain that kept us indoors and we welcomed the lay low atmosphere. It brought memories of when we first met.

It was 1997 and the Winter brought a nasty blizzard to Colorado. He was living in Westminster and I was about thirty minutes away in Lakewood.  We were at that puppy love stage when all you can do is think about each other all day long and just wish to be together. The blizzard meant we didn't know when we would be together again. I remember a phone call and a loving caution to be careful and two hours later Nathan was at my doorstep. He battled hazardous road conditions and potential personal peril driving his 'Big Red' (as I liked to call it) Landcruiser across the town to be with me. Ahh, those early days of love are grand!

Oh, the ways true love can be tested!

Not only did he battle old man weather to be near his new found love, he also sacrificed dearly in the form of material loss. We were planning and getting ready to cleave to each other, which meant leaving our former abodes behind to make one abode but that meant re-arranging priorities. He owned a beautiful car he dearly loved, I got to drive it around town every now and then and feel like a speed demon. We both loved the exhilarating feel of that lovely piece of machinery but the piston (or 2 I'll have to ask him) cracked and the repair bill was the deciding factor between really making a home or not. He gave up the Porsche to be with me.

Nathan's Baby!
Photo by: Nathan Brown

Over the years, we both have had to sacrifice for each other in some form. Each time, each circumstance, we both feel the pain for each other. I say that is true love. We are willing to give away what means something to us for the sake and benefit of the other.  Give me a moment while I swoon!

I saw a good man over sixteen years ago, and I see a great man today!

Nathan Brown you are IT!

A Man And A Maiden On A Warm Summer Day

Here I go again, skirting the monotonous weekend cleaning schedule so I can do what I'd rather do; read or write about something that interests me. The motorcycle boot scuff marks on the floor can wait a few more hours so I can stroke this mental viand.

People that know me best understand my sentimental nature. I like to swoon and reminisce and exaggerate reality just because words mixed with a little varied imagination on paper allows me the simple pleasure.

Alas, this is the tale of A Maiden And A Man On A Warm Summer Day….

A man and a maiden separated ways, one chose the flat Eastern path, the other traversed the hilly Western maze. The morning dew called them both to ensue upon the set fate of their days.

They parted with a sweet loving peck and thought of each other no more as the the daily marks were set. They toiled upon what must ensue to keep their heavenly abode well kept.

At mid day break the maiden did fall upon pathway travails. She pondered the muddle she found herself in and beckoned for her hero to prevail. Although capable of fixing her plight; a man was
what was needed for this particular avail.

And THEN…

She saw him flying from the East on his valiant steed; loud and thunderous and moving at blistering speed. He saw her waiting upon the Western hill ready for him to accomplish his heroic deed. Her heart melted in the sweltering sun knowing she would be saved; yes indeed!

She watched as he worked, beads of sweat on his brow, securing and fastening her plight into oblivion's domain. Gratitude arose from the depths of her being, a euphoric kiss was reward to her swain. Travelers along the Western maze beheld the true love of a maiden and a man on that warm Summer day.

'The Man'
Photo by: The Maiden 'AKA' Chandra Brown

The story of 'A Man And A Maiden' certainly beats reality; I was stranded because of a flat -tire and had to pull my hardworking husband away from his job to come fix a tire on his lunch break. BORING! Ha ha! 

Thanks honey, you were my hero! XO

Chronological New Testament: A Few Thoughts



"Do whatever He tells you"
by andycoan


I've been reading The Chronological New Testament, and have been eating up every page. As I read the books of the New Testament on the timeline in which they happened, I find certain dynamics being revealed in such a way that it caused me to feel as if I was reading The New Testament for the first time.

I wondered why the members who debated, studied and eventually put together the twenty-seven books known as the New Testament Canon, did it in the order they did. I've heard some evidence points to the notion the books in the order we are use to were aligned this way in order to help make doctrinal issues clear. Without going into that tangent; following the order of events as they took place in time has only helped make doctrine clear for me and I've read the New Testament in "traditional" order many many times and have never seen things as clear. The problems that arose and how they were addressed, the struggle to keep the church pure, the teachings of Jesus born out in believers life through real experiences all follows the sequence and definately reveals a pattern that if we pay attention shows us clearly how the church should function.

Does the modern church live this pattern out? There's some homework for ya!

There have been many moments where the words have popped off the page and started a brainstorm of thoughts. Since being part of the church means sharing your experiences with the Lord with other believers I thought I'd at least share how this book, put into action by a believer so others could benefit, has at least on a basic level helped spur me on in my understanding of how to walk with God and be an active participant in His church (I Corinthians 16:15-18 CNT WebVersion).

The book starts off with the preparation of men who were to take God's message out into the world, Acts 1-11. Paul's experiences have a great impact on the church and as the text unfolds I notice I can relate as the Holy Spirit has taught me some of those same things through my own personal experiences and have also given me reason to keep trying for those things I know I lack.

I read 2 Corinthians 11 and 12 and I can understand Paul's point, talking about his weakness is made strong in Christ. In chapter 11 he talks of being unskilled in speech yet he speaks boldy the things of Christ. There are times I feel the worlds weight glaring down on the truth and my flesh wants to quiver and hide, yet through the Holy Spirit's strength and guidance He has made my mind sharp and strong able to dispell the world's reasoning in order to show Christ's glory for what it truly is. I am honored and humbled this vessel was used to Christ's gain.

I read chapter 11 verses 22-33 and if you look at that account of peril through fleshly eyes it makes no sense that someone would go through all that for his fellow believer and to be obedient to Christ. Why would someone choose this path of constant struggle and pain? Then in chapter 12 the Lord sends a demon to keep Paul in check, he even asks for it to be removed and the Lord says no and Paul responds with gladness. Paul understood the principle of sumbission at all cost because his gain was Christ. His spiritual life meant more to him then the fleshly, time condensed one he had now. Being able to go through this willingly and gladly has to have personal, knowledge and devotion to something alive and tangible and utterly true. From a fleshly point Paul would look insane but when someone has found the truth and knows it, they are a rock unmoveable and it doesn't matter what the rest of the world thinks.

I ask myself the hard question, Could I go through what Paul went through to follow Christ? (Remember Christ was our ultimate example in what He gave for us)

The more I talk to God, get to know Jesus and follow what the Holy Spirit teaches me through real life events, I'd like to think, YES. Experience to experience I am being transformed by the reality of Christ in my life and the joy given only by God surpasses any worldly sorrows.  There is gladness in my weakness because He is being glorified for who He truly is and I get to be part of something I don't deserve. I am coming to understand what taking up your cross really means through the personal teaching of the Holy Spirit as He reveals to me what I need to do or what He wants to do, confirmation of it in scripture and then relating it to other believers carrying their cross too. Now that is the real church and I am proud to be part of it.

As the first lines in the Chronological New Testament say, "The first church was not the one in Jerusalem; it was Jesus and the 12 disciples. The real pattern cannot be based on mere assumptions drawn from letters Paul and others wrote. Jesus set the example for His church."  It is based on relationship.

Paul is a shining example of following Jesus' pattern, as were countless others in the New Testament, and we must include the righteous in the Old Testament as well. The fact I am offered the chance (my life) to try and follow the example and pattern too makes my spirit soar....

Thanks to Ken Brown and James Dinsmore for putting together the Chronological New Testament!

Note: The picture above has special significance pertaining to my walk with God...2 Kings 4...when I found this on the photosite I use the title the photographer gave it sealed the deal for my choice in using it with this post...

"Cupid" Diem

Valentines Day is just around the corner and the closer the holiday gets the more you see ads targeting Men to get out there and buy something lest you end up in the dog house. It starts in the high end price range with diamonds and if you can't afford those get her lingerie, teddy bears and flowers. Finally, at the lower end of the economic scale you better at the very least buy her a card and chocolate.

I'd like to take a moment and point out that women, including myself love all these material things that say I love you, but (how did you know there would be a but?) I have a few suggestions to make to ALL who love someone. These suggestions, in my mind mean more than the material ways we say I love you and do not hold any monetary value. The value they hold is priceless and fills your loved ones emotional piggy bank, one that means more that any fiscal matter, and the fun part is you don't have to wait till Valentines to fill the piggy bank.... You can do these anytime.

1. The minute your spouse comes home from work grab them and kiss them for at least 4 seconds (4 seconds is longer than you think... 1 one thousand 2 one thousand...)
2. Say I love you everytime you part (Your words have more impact than you may realize)
3. Make something that shows your love. (it could be as simple as a cut-out heart sent in their lunch bag or briefcase/or can be more complicated such as: preparing their favorite dinner, even if you don't particularly like doing it, it shows you stepped out of your comfort zone to let them know you care)
4. Ask your loved one what they want to do and do it with undivided attention for at least 15 minutes. (Children love this. My daughter always wants to me to play in her imaginary world with her horses. Sometimes it's hard for me to be Black Beauty for 15 minutes but it's about her not me for those 15 minutes. It always brings us closer together.

The suggestions are pretty basic, not very hard and very do-able especially in this economy.
So "Cupid" Diem- and seize the opportunities to show your love. The return on investment is worth your time.
Write back and let me know some of the fun ways you show your love! I am always open to new ideas to try out on my loved ones.