Sunday 14 November 2021

Sources of joy — being loved

 One of the greatest sources of joy is being loved. It is comforting and makes me happy.

In the mornings, every day, my husband makes me a cup of tea when he makes his own, and brings it upstairs to me.

I usually wake early but spend the first couple of hours of the day doing things online or writing, so that means I have a cup of tea in bed every morning. Nettle tea is my tipple.

Here's my cup of tea from this morning.




But the thing is, there's more than just a cup of tea in that picture. It's a photograph of love.

Having a cup of tea brought up to me every single morning feels like the most amazing luxury — it makes me feel most extraordinarily loved and blessed. 

But then, there's the cup the tea is in. My youngest daughter saw it when she was living in London, and thought I'd like it, and bought if for me, because she loves me. I drink my morning tea from it every day. The tea is made with love and the cup was chosen and given with love.

Then there's the thing the cup is standing on. I asked my husband (he's a woodworker) if he would make me a little white cupboard to cover the electric sockets on the wall by my bed — I think electric sockets are very useful but also very ugly. So he did. He made it for me carefully and precisely, and put it on the wall for me, just because I wanted it and he loves me. And it made a dinky little bedside table right by my bed, perfect for my cup of tea. How lucky am I?

And then there's the wall, painted yellow — but not by me. A few years ago, my husband painted that room pale green for me, at my request, and it was lovely; but over time I decided it was not quite right — I wanted spice box colours. So he dismantle my wardrobe (which he made for me) and took out my bed (which he made for me) and unscrewed the socket cover that he made for me, and admitted my room all over again, in the colours I wanted — two shades of yellow and a shade of green, including the ceiling. It's perfect now. So my room is painted in love and furnished with love, and how blessed can one person be?

But look, there's also the calligraphy above the cup. That was made for me by my eldest daughter as an encouragement and affirmation of faith when our family was going through difficult times. It was her gift of love to me. I had it framed and hung it on my wall, and every day I see it and it reminds me that she loves me and made something beautiful for me, and that God loves me and has a shining path for me to walk in and I will not miss my way because his love over-shines me.

This — this love that surrounds me and upholds me and nourishes my soul, is a source of joy to me.

Who loves you? If nobody loves you at all, there are dogs waiting to be rescued. Dogs have so much love to give.


6 comments:

Megs said...

Such beautiful thoughts! I’m lucky, I have humans and canines who love me…good to reflect on today.

Pen Wilcock said...

The thing is, we get used to it. This is where living simply is so vital — it gives us the space for wonder and delight. If we over-complicate life, all these people, whose love surrounds us in constant blessing, just become a nuisance.

Julie B. said...

You truly are surrounded by beauty and love, Ember. What a lovely, thoughtful post. xoxo

Pen Wilcock said...

Waving to you, my friend xx

Anonymous said...


Love love, love yellow.

Love - yes, it comes in many forms. My darling husband also brings me a hot drink first thing in the morning. My sons help out with heavy tasks that we struggle with. My daughter provides fun conversations and Godly wisdom. Other members of our family provide company and thoughtfulness. Our friends provide fun, fellowship and camaraderie

Yellow - the colour of sunshine, sunflowers, sand, vanilla ice-cream, lemons, roses, happiness. After our a fire in our home in May 2019, most of the rooms needed redecorating. My favourite colour paint is Gentle Yellow by Crown. It's a creamy, soft yellow and we had it used in almost every room. It makes a great neutral colour because almost every other colour goes with it.
Our suffering from depression and SAD has improved because our home now has a bright, cheerful glow in the sunshine and a warm, cosy comfort on grey days.

Pen Wilcock said...

I love yellow, too. We live in a biggish Victorian semi, so our front room is spacious. The chimney breast wall (including the alcoves) is a sort of frog skin green, and all the other walls in that room are a bright in-your-face uncompromising sunshine yellow. We've tried many colours in that room, but it's the only one that works — it faces north and the northern light turns everything grey and robs the colours — but bright yellow wins the day.

I love the sound of your Gentle Yellow. For a while in Aylesbury we lived in a house with a lot of that kind of colour, and it had a very relaxing and comforting vibe.