Have you ever had a child hand you a dandelion or other random flowering weed they found in the yard?

They may have given it to you with the most sincere desire to make you feel special.

After they gave it to you what did your face automatically do?

Did you smile?

I can almost put money on the fact that you did,

YOU SMILED!

It’s inevitable when we are given a beautiful part of a natural creation something inside our heart opens up and we automatically smile.

Today I am going to share with you 3 ways flowers can bring a smile to your face and to your heart.

1. Flowers are bright. Those all-natural bright colors, when seen by our human eye signal to our brain and soul that life has the potential to be beautiful even when maybe we can’t feel it inside our minds.

When I was growing up we had the tradition as a family of going to my grandparents farm twice a year , we went for labor day and we went for memorial day and everyonce in awhil we would go a few days inbetween.

But on those 2 days of the year as soon as we arrived we would giveour grandparents a hug and then my grandma would take us kids with her on a walk. With her scissors and empty pitcher in hand, and we would go scavaging for wildflowers.

We would pick black eyed susans, wild daisys, and a bunch of other random wildflowers we would find during our walk.

we walked through rolling fields of tall grass, and hunted for as many beautiful flowers we could find.

When we got back grandma would cut the ends and arrange them into the clean pitchers she had to get them ready to set them on the picnic tables for their debut.

all day long I would admire them, and their natural ability to make me smile without even thinking.

As the years have passed and I no longer live close to my grandparents or their farm I have pondered on the memories of finding wildflowers with my grandma.

She didn’t know then (and I can’t even tell her now because she passed away 4 years ago), but she ignited in me an amazing love of all flowers and the peace and beauty they can bring to our lives.

2. Realizing that flowers represent life can help sustain us in our own lives

When I got married almost 15 years ago my husband would have fallen into the stereotypical category of many men. He was a man that would rather buy me something that would last a long time than to spend money on cut flowers that would eventually flop over and fade in beauty a week or so later.

I don’t even remember when the first time was that he actually bought me flowers.

I’m pretty sure it was about 5 years into our marriage though. I remember they were a beautiful bunch of 5 gerber daisy. He most likely bought them at Walmart or another grocery store near our house. But I didn’t care where they came from I just was happy to receive them.

I automatically felt that his love for me was even more real than before because he cared enough to buy me flowers even though to him it may have been a totally irrational purchase.

I made sure I showed him how much I loved them and I made sure they lasted as long as I could make them.

Since then he has learned his lesson, he has realized that flowers are so important to me. They don’t cure my depression by any means but they do definitely boost my mood.

A few years ago he got what he thought was an amazing idea, and for Mother’s day, he bought me a package of flower seeds.

Pink Zinnia seeds to be exact.

Boy was he wrong, I was so upset that he would remotely think this was an acceptible idea for a gift. These weren’t flowers these were just seeds, even though their potential could bring beauty I didn’t care and it infuriated me to think that he would be such a cheapskate and so thoughtless.

I think I literally said “oh thanks” and threw the seeds in the garage or something. I laughed about it but inside it really did kind of make me sad and mad.

Awhile later Jake had mentioned to me that he had planted the seeds on the edge of our garden. I brushed it off and acted as I cared.

But inside I was thinking oh brother they will never grow.

A few months after that, I went outside to check on our tomatoes or something and I saw the zinnias he had planted and they were blooming into huge beautiful flowers.

There were not 5 or 10 of them but there were what seemed to be hundreds of full luscious flowers that were all mine.

I was ecstatic, I had all the flowers I could want to arrange or give away.

I remember that day feeling so foolish because of my initial reaction to my husband’s gift.

I was ashamed that I had been so short-sighted that I could not appreciate what the gift would become with time and care.

That summer I made sure I told him how much i loved the zinnias and I gave flowers away in arrangements and had plenty of them on my countertops and table.

Over the years Jake has become very aware of the evidence that I LOVE flowers.

He has bought me countless bouquets and flowering plants.

Every once in a while when he can see that I am down he will ask me “do you want me to buy some flowers for you? or do you want to go buy some flowers so that you can arrange them and they will help you feel better?”

Even the thought that he cares so much to say this to me means the WORLD to me.

3. When we share flowers with others both benefit.

We have a flower shop near our house. Outside of the shop, there is a tall letter board and each week they post a woman’s name and a man’s name. If your name appears on the board you can go inside to receive your free bouquet of fresh flowers.

Every week me and my kids would drive by to see if any of our names were on the board.

After about 3 years of living in our current home my name SARA appeared.

I was so excited to finally go and retrieve my free bouquet of flowers.

I went in and showed the cashier my ID to verify my name and then she proceeded to make the most beautiful bouquet of bright yellow and white flowers. There were tulips, daisies, a rose and some other filler flowers in it.

It really was beautiful and I felt so special walking out with it.

Immideitly I started thing of how I would arrange them in a vase for my kitchen island. But then a random thought flashed through my mind.

“You should give these flowers to Genna”, Genna had just had a baby and she was such a sweet person who had been going through some tuff times recently.

My heart tugged and I knew that was exactly what I needed and wanted to do.

Instead of turning left to go to my house I turned right at the next road and drove the 5 minutes to Genna’s house.

I knocked on the door and Genna came to the door with her little boy at her leg. I handed the flowers over to her and gave her a hug and told her she was on my mind and asked her when I could come back and help her out at her house with the kids.

She smiled a huge smile and I knew I had done the right thing.

I felt uplifted and so happy that I was able to receive the flowers and enjoy their beauty for a couple of minutes but also that I could share their beauty with someone else that just may have needed them more than I did that day.

So there you have it, 3 reasons flowers will make you smile

1. Flowers are bright. Those all-natural bright colors, when seen by our human eye signal to our brain and soul that life has the potential to be beautiful even when maybe we can’t feel it inside our minds
2. Realizing that flowers represent life can help sustain us in our own lives
3. When we share flowers with others both of us benefit.

It’s a neat creation that I believe God has created for all of us to bring light and beauty into our lives.

A random flower can be an instant reminder of His love for us.

So go pick some flowers or go buy some for yourself and some extras to give away.

I promise it will bring a smile to your beautiful face!

What are your favorite types of flowers?