flower power

via

How incredible is this flower carpet? This past weekend, 700,000 begonias were arranged on the floor of the Grand Place in Brussels, Belgium for a blooming weekend. The event is a biannual tradition for the country's capital dating back to 1971.

Besides the larger-than-life floral arrangement, this square, in the middle of Brussels, Belgium holds a special place in my heart. Not because of the history behind the buildings' facades (honestly, I'm not even positive I could identify them by name), but because this square was the first stop on my very first Euro-excursion.

Fresh-off the plane and wide-eyed, these buildings were a few of the first things to fill my Euro-fresh eyes- and I love them to this day. Any time I see a picture of them, I feel the same magic and awe I first felt in their presence.

Magic and awe. Heart-pounding awe and wonder. That's some flower power.

dreamy

LOVE this ad by J Crew that appeared on the back of the Syle Section in yesterday's New York Times...

it makes me think of these

which makes me want to be wearing something like this

As always, merci J Crew.

Happy Monday!

campus bloom

Girls in sun dresses, guys playing campus golf, fratty tank tops galore on the Bear Trail, and fresh flowers every which way you gaze. Baylor is definitely in bloom.

opening up

"You're the God that opens seas, every flower, even me. You're all I need."

While driving to class this morning this lyric of Bethany Dillon stuck with me.

Unless they have lived alone, under a rock for their entire life, every person has experienced some kind of wounding to their heart at some point. Whether it was a broken relationship, a broken heart, or a broken promise, sometimes, something causes people to sink back from others and the rest of the world. I know this, because I have personally experienced it. However and most thankfully, God calls to us, longing to restore these broken, wounded places. And little by little, if we allow him to, we will begin to open up again like a beautiful, blooming flower. We weren't created to fade into the background of our world- we were meant to touch others, make a difference, be ourselves. And the God who parted a sea to save a nation of people, will just as willingly save us by restoring our hearts. He is the edgeless God who is so eager to enter our tiny, confined world in order to show us who we truly are.