Yesterday I brought home a fresh bouquet of tulips for Lisa. They are bright yellow with a tint of orange. Green leaves and stems. She did her last shift of her preceptorship in Palliative Care. Now all that’s left is her graduation ceremony and writing her Provincial Exam. Woohoo! But this isn’t about her. This is about the flowers.

I don’t know when we started doing this, but it was years ago. We like fresh flowers in the house. Real ones. It’s one little intentional act that we do to help our home feel more alive and colorful and natural and, yes, romantic. Even in the dead of winter there’s a little burst of life and color and love.

When I was buying them someone came up behind me and asked, “Are those for your wife?” I said, “Absolutely. And for me too!” She smiled.

I do the same thing for my spiritual life. I will listen to Russian Orthodox Church music or Arvo Pärt. I will read Thomas Merton or Krishnamurti. I might watch a Žižek video on Youtube. I might read an interview, like the one I just read with Amy Grant.

These little exercises are like bringing a fresh bouquet of flowers into my spiritual life. They remind me that there is life and color and love.

How about you?