Making All Things Beautiful

I have a friend who makes all things beautiful. She made this cake, for a "wedding" between the dolls— well, between a stuffed animal named Red Dog and his beloved doll. My children were in attendance. What a blessing.

Sometimes, when keeping house, when working with children and the ordinary stuff of life, I neglect to make all things beautiful. But I am inspired by these words of Margaret Kim Peterson's, from her book Keeping House...

... we want everything to be quick and easy, or we think we do. But there is something in the human soul that longs for beauty beyond necessity. Of course it is easier not to make the bed. But there is a substantive difference between turning down a neatly made bed in the evening and lying down in a mess of sheets left from the night before. (p.28)

Judging by the spirit of Peterson's whole book, I do not take this to mean that I must always feel compelled to make the bed, or put fresh strawberries on a homemade cake, or host a little wedding ceremony for the dolls and invite the neighborhood children. On the other hand, I do feel a sense of wanting my life to have an overall rhythm, a weight in the direction of beauty-making as sweet and fresh as new whipped cream just now being sliced with a silver knife.


Red Dog's Wedding Cake photo, by Sara. Used with permission.

Wordless Wednesday: Lily

I could take a thousand pictures of the lily and never tire of its beauty. Bold, crisp, arresting flower that it is.


Lily photo, by L.L. Barkat.