I have never considered myself a sentimental person. I keep cards from holidays, birthdays, graduations, and close friends–but not much more than that. I have a few trinkets on my dresser, desk, and massive bookshelf (or more accurately, I had–until I packed them away a few days ago), but not many. My excuse is that I have a huge disdain toward clutter. But, if I am to be honest, I also don’t like holding onto small things because I struggle with balancing between the past and the present as well as the present and the future. I find that if I keep small baubles around from the past, I do not enjoy the present as much. The same goes with ornaments from the present and my longing for the future–it is as though one stifles the other, albeit faintly.
But I want to change. I want to be different. I don’t plan to hold onto anything or everything from here on out (I am not very materialistic in the first place.) But I do want to make it a point to hold onto “the little things in life” more. To treasure my first Bible, to enjoy the fresh flowers in my room, to delight in the new canvas I am working on, and to reflect upon life while enjoying the potpourri that my dear friend’s mother (Mary Ford Davis) made from the flowers from her brother’s and mother’s recent funerals.
I want to be thankful for each breath from the past and hopeful for each one that is to come, while breathing in the fragrance of these flowers. This fragrance, which is subtle at first, is a reminder to me to love, live, and be Jesus to those around me and to not neglect the past. Both Uncle Bob and Granny demonstrated this in their lives and I hope to follow in their footsteps. While neither they nor my dear friend Jeanie cannot come along with me on this next year’s journey, the small bag of potpourri can and will. The fragrance of the flowers will undoubtedly remind me of their lives that were well-lived, well-loved, and well-missed. Their lives brought joy and a fragrance to the lives of countless others and I hope to live my life similarly.
