I am not sure how to express to you how much I enjoyed this place. Other than to say- this place was made for me! Ever since I heard about the new addition in Tampa, I have been aching to go. Aching like I ache to go back to Oxford, England (okay, maybe not quite as much). But Oxford Exchange is much closer.
Oxford Exchange is in a historic building renovated with such old class and beauty. It contains a restaurant, bookstore, tea bar, coffee bar, and home store. Also, this central seating area in the middle of it all, complete with classy furniture and a staircase leading up to the second floor. The glass atrium ceiling allows so much light inside, and you can go upstairs to gaze back down to people-watch. Everything is thoughtfully designed and richly decorated. Dark wood paneling. Black and white floors with eye-catching geometric designs. Wood floors. White brick walls. Rich fabrics in pleasing colours like golden rod and caramel.
Emily and I had such a blast here. Everything about the day was relaxing. We ate a delicious breakfast, browsed the home store and the bookstore, and got some tea from the tea bar. We each ordered a Lavender Fog, which was the most delicious drink ever. It's a London Fog (Earl Grey with steamed milk and vanilla) with lavender.
The thing I love about this place is the way it invites you to slow down. To sit and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee. To find a book in the bookstore and take some time for reading. A good place to meet friends and have a cup of tea with a delightful place to hang out. This is the kind of place I could spend a lot of time at, and we did. It has that European charm of a place that is open to all and promotes taking time to just enjoy the day.
I am afraid I will making many more trips over to Tampa for you, Oxford Exchange.
Proper communication is vitally important in all we do. At work, absolutely, but also in our personal lives. I have just finished a book my boss gave me to read called Crucial Conversations. The premise of the book is how we find ourselves in crucial conversations (meaning, something is on the line) frequently, and if we do not know how to communicate with the other people involved, we have made the situation worse.
It all boils down to taking the focus off of you. Stop being so selfish and myopic that you are unwilling to see a situation from the other person's perspective. After we stop and ask ourselves "what do I want?" then the situation should shift to see that, most likely, both parties want the same thing, but just have different ways of approaching it.
That is why talking through it can be the best thing, but only if both can listen to one another.
This book supplied helpful reminders of how to turn a bad conversation around to keep it focused, calm, and productive. The chapters go through the ingredients we need to toss into the circumstance when a conversation becomes crucial. It all starts with you, and finding what you want, but in order to have a successful dialogue, you will need to then look at the other person's needs/problems/tensions and allow a gentle understanding to seep through your speech.
Being gentle with our words is a biggie, because once something is said it cannot be unsaid. So, guarding our speech is quite an important element in being a part of a tough discussion and creating a safe arena for both to talk is crucial.
Good we must love, and must hate ill,
For ill is ill, and good good still...
If they were good it would be seene,
Good is as visible as greene.
-John Donne
The moss sways on the branches of the huge Laurel Oak outside my place. With so much greenery around this neighborhood, there is plenty of shade, which I like, of course (pale redhead that I am!). There are also gorgeous rays of light that come in through my windows. I like that too.
There is also a sense of history here. Huge trees do not sprout up overnight. Neither do the best things in life. They are worth waiting for.
My admiration for this place grows. To be at home in a neighborhood is comforting. Giving me a sense of place. Talking to one neighbor. Waving hello to another. Fixing a cup of tea and sitting by the window, gazing at the fading light as the sun sets.
I praise God for such a place as this. To be so blessed to have found this home through my friend Emily is such evidence of God's hands working all the pieces into place, which means I need to continue to trust in all the things that I still desire.
So as I stretch out on my sofa and gaze out to the Laurel Oak I think about how truly satisfied I am with where God has placed me at the moment. He provided the job and the place to live, all without my lifting a finger. Truthfully, the job and the home found me. Which is further proof of God's will just being revealed according to plan.
Waste not.
For I never want to miss any of the delights of this moment.
There is so much to be thankful for.
We toil and toil all day, and then our hearts are filled with anxious thoughts. And yet what good has come out of our anxious thoughts?
Not one.
I dare you to find one.
So, why do we keep doing it?
We seek answers to our questions and when we are not readily supplied with satisfying answers we toil and lose sleep over that which makes us anxious. We attempt to comfort ourselves with our favourite movie, going out, or favourite food, but we emerge unchanged.
The problem is within each of us. At the surface we fix it with distraction, but at the root is our heart. While it remains unchanged and focused on our own self, we will continue to toil needlessly. It is only when we see in ourselves the things that need to change.
You are the only one who can make that decision to change you and to ask God to work through you.
Our troubles gain momentum as you toil over them. Soon it becomes a snowball that swallows you and carries you down the mountain.
But God lifts you up to the peak so you have no worries falling on you. He doesn't want us to live with anxious thoughts overcoming our hearts and minds. But you have to let Him take you up.....all the way up. And that is the difficulty. In letting God.
Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet our heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
- Matthew 6.25-27
Happy Place: The Library
I confess. I love to own books. I love to re-read them, write in them, underline passages, and the way they look in stacks or on shelves. I could go on, but I will spare you.
I have now entered the enchanting world of the downtown library because it is literally two minutes away from my home. I realized that there are many delights that await me there. Tucked away in the corner where the English Literature and Poetry is located, will be my most frequented spot, I presume. And where I found three books to take home with me this week.
This is a new idea for me (and probably old to you), but the library will save me a bunch of money! I tend to buy books without a second thought, and if given the choice I would forgo a meal for books. But now my library just grew by the thousands!
I know this is all obvious to you, because you are much brighter than me since you probably go to the library to check out books and even DVDs. And furthermore, this is clear evidence of our ability to miss something grand that is right under our noses (or my nose, anyway).
Also, I met up with my co-worker Jaime at the library who had her 3 year-old daughter with her. Nothing makes me happier than seeing a little one excited about reading, with a big stack of books in her arms.
If nothing can separate us from the love of God then even in my most dreary moments when I feel completely alone I am not alone. God's love is there with me. Even when I am on the back-roads somewhere and nobody knows my location. Even then I am not separated from God's love. On trips that I take by myself, God is there along with me. His love is always next to me, or rather, inside of me. No storm, or distance, or change of situation will ever take God's love away from me.
Since the love of God is inside my heart, nothing can separate me from it. I need that reminder in this season of my life. I will need that in every season in some way or another. How do we find ways to think otherwise from what we know to be true?
With our broken words, we can speak praise to God. In our darkest moments we can turn our hearts and minds to Him. In our deepest worries, we can choose words of praise and release the worries. Our prayers are assaulted by all the negative thoughts that Satan wants us to focus on. But our prayers don't have to be full of fine words.
I am reading T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets, and it's amazing, to put it simply. His words reach deep into my soul like Rilke's (my favourite German poet). I am sure I will post about these poems in more detail, but the following excerpt was too good to not share right now:
Words strain,
Crack and sometimes break, under the burden,
Under the tension, slip, slide, perish,
Decay with imprecision, will not stay in place,
Will not stay still. Shrieking voices
Scolding, mocking, or merely chattering,
Always assail them.
'Burnt Norton', T.S. Eliot
Standing at my counter with a cup of rose tea steeping, my book open, and a feeling of thankfulness.
For each moment.
Each gift.
Now I sit down with my cup of rose tea as an evening lightning storm flashes outside. The summer heat builds up all day and now it's being released twixt sky and ground through heat lightning.
I simply cannot get enough of this rose tea. Quite the perfect delicate balance of rose, lavender, and lemon verbena. Soothing and relaxing after a long day. My days used to be so stressful at my old job with no relief. But that has all changed, and now even if there is pressure I don't feel that stress. Instead, I feel thankfulness for being here and having my job situation make such a good change. It is truly a blessing I could not have predicted or tried to coordinate.
Life's simple pleasures are so tiny, but somehow they bring a special element of the creative world that reminds me of God's imagination and love.
Simplicity.
This is how I choose to live and how I am happiest. The simple ritual of brewing tea. Making a meal from scratch. Decorating. Reading.
Simple, but elegant. Less is more.
Lulled by the heat early in the morning, my refuge is in coffee, tea, and books. A mind awake, and yet not willing to roam outside to the sticky hot Florida weather, which drenches over our long summer days.
A soft breeze rustles the tree limbs, but only succeeding in shuffling around the thick air which melts to you instantly when stepping out the door.
I lied. I do venture out for moments and make my way to the farmer's market for a short visit. I come back in need of a shower, after such a short excursion. That is absurd! Don't you think?
Oh, the summer hours are long and full of heat. On the ground, rain water pools, and in the sky rain water forms to pour on us late in the day.
Why do people desire summer so much? If you know, please tell me. If you love it, I am so glad for you. Do you love the humid air so dense and a heat index over 100 each day for months and months? And a whole season of frizzy hair? I don't deny the sky can be beautiful and the light shines with glean on the lakes at sunset.
But the long hours of summer heat. It doesn't make much sense to me, so I just settle with the fact that not every season in life is happy-go-lucky. We go through different seasons of life, both literally and figuratively. And not every one is all pleasant. But even in these struggles of life and we can find glimpses of joy in each day, like this deep blue sky and whispy clouds. When you admire the little things, you are admiring pieces of what God has created.
No theme may be played that hath not its uttermost source in me....
- The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
The first chapter of The Silmarillion is the creation story, full of beautiful description and imagery. It is breathtaking. You should read it. Ilúvatar is the Creator, and he creates the Ainur who sing the songs of harmony weaving many themes that become one song of creation. A heavenly realm in sync with one another which increased beyond hearing, and flowed from depths to heights.
But as we know from our creation story, a dark theme enters into the song. In this case, it is Melkor who begins to change the music to a loud, clanging sound with intentions to distract and disrupt. A war of music ensues with Melkor seemingly winning the battle, until....
Ilúvatar stands and he seems to smile. At the raise of his left hand and then his right, a new song was created in the midst of chaos. Melkor's theme was loud and only meant to 'drown the other music by the violence of its voice, but it seemed that its most triumphant notes were taken by the other and woven into its own solemn pattern."
This is what God does in our lives and in our world. This beautiful retelling of creation by Tolkien is so enriched with imagery and depths of music with the Creator always having the final say when it seems like evil is gaining power and control. The Creator uses the darkness of Melkor's theme, interweaving it into the music, not letting it take over, but melding it all together in the whole of creation.
It is just like God to take something dark and make it into something beautiful.
That is the story of God and what He does for us. Sub-created by Tolkien.
