Early in summer 2017, a dear friend stopped by the farm with his drone.
It was our high season (when I was up to my eyes in weeds, trying to stay faithful on succession plantings, coordinating harvests and grocery orders, building beautiful weddings, making sure my little ones felt loved and secure, were well-fed, safe and sleeping enough), and I didn’t even realize he had taken photos.

Later that week, Steve stopped me in my bustling around and showed me this photo, and I absolutely did not realize he was showing me OUR farm.

“Ohhhh, that’s beautiful,” I gushed, and he agreed.

He asked me to look at the photo more closely.

“It’s so tidy and lush – it’s lovely,” I said, wondering a bit about why he was so focused on the photo when there was so much to do at the moment on our OWN farm.

“Sarah,” he said, with an meaningful look, “This is a picture of OUR farm.”

I was completely astounded. All I could manage to see was the never-ending task list, the piles of “farm junk” that I wished would disappear, the weeds and pests, unfilled ditches, and derelict buildings. But the farm in the photo was stunning, and it was ours.

This moment is forever etched in my mind, and the lessons are far-reaching. It was a classic case of not seeing the forest for the trees: I was so consumed with the details that I couldn’t see the big picture. The photo marks a turning-point for me, when I determined to not be so bogged down by daily tasks that I forget to take time and remember the true loveliness that surrounds me. 

I believe that God is good, and that he is true, and also that he is beautiful. Beauty is important to him, and it should be to me, too. I am committed to creating as much beauty as I can, to filling my little world and the worlds of those I influence with it. 

As a woman whose business it is to share beauty, it is too easy for me to get it all backwards, but I’m determined. 

I will re-orient my mind and spend time enjoying the evening light on the flowers, purposefully spend time admiring the flowers with my children, take a slower-paced walk in the fields with a friend, look up at sunrise and sunset, and not forget the big picture.

If you’d told us eight years ago that we’d spend summer days slinging flowers together, building weddings, growing beautiful blooms — I doubt we’d have believed it. But God has sweetly and gently led us into this unexpected life, and we love it. 

The hard times, the pressing mortgage, the blood, sweat, and tears? They’re real, and they make up more of life than the sweet chats over armfuls of fluffy blooms and finished-project smiles, but it all goes together in the fabric of our lives to make a beautiful creation: God’s perfect plan. 

It’s the same for all of us, whether farming, ministering, putting in long office hours, teaching, firefighting, parenting, governing – there are the sweet and photograph-able moments and successes, and the slogging hard work that gets you there, but it all works together to make us into the individuals God wants us to be. 

I’m learning to lean into it, to accept it all, and embracing the grace God gives for every moment. 

Ephesians 4:7 “But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.”

Today is the one-year anniversary of the day we almost lost Steve. Technically we did lose him, but they got his heart going again – several times that day. It was so scary to watch, and not so fun for him to go through, but it’s in the past. One year in the past. And today he’s healthy and was busy serving our family and our church body, being his consistent, cheerful self.

This is a special day for our family already: a heaven-sent grandmother’s birthday, Trey’s half-birthday… and now it’s also the day we celebrate Steve’s new lease on LIFE. I couldn’t be more thankful.

{Photo by @katherynmoranphotography}

The Lord your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.

Zephaniah 3:17

It’s been a quiet, seed collecting, fresh eucalyptus wreath prepping, blondie baking, harvest fest prepping, homework doing, laundering, holiday list-making, kid-snuggling, dog washing kind of rainy day. Pretty much my favorite.

Friend, are you tired?

We started our farm business gently in 2012. We were experimenting, dreaming, and living our first year on lovely, pastoral farm land with our two very young children. By mid-2013, my sweet husband Steve had come home to work full-time with the farm, and we were realizing that to be profitable we needed to scale our flower farm quickly. I proceeded to work 90-100 hard, physical hours per week for 8-9 months of the year for the next 6 years, while administrating the farm business, homeschooling, trying to maintain our family life, personal relationships and my own sanity. Please don’t think Steve didn’t help me – we’re a great team! But he was putting in those same hours, and it was all too much. I started to unravel, and it’s been a long road of making wiser decisions in order to heal. Most recently, I’ve hopped off the in-the-field treadmill and started working ON our business more than IN it. Since before I was trying to do BOTH, my margins have now drastically increased and I’m delighted to find that I haven’t completely lost myself! (I was truly worried that I was permanently numb, tired, and burned out.) I’ve realized I *do* still enjoy many of the same things I did before, and I have time to do some of them again. I can’t tell you how full of joy my heart is! 

Today I get to put together a reading goal celebration party for our daughter’s third grade class. I likely wouldn’t have volunteered even a few months ago, because I truly had zero margin to allow for it. But now I’ve moved my work hours around and I can help her make cute favors, centerpieces, and even a fun party entry. It may seem silly, but the creative juices to do fun things like this for/with my kids have been so dry for so long that I had forgotten how sweet it can be. I’ll fill my stories today with peeks of the fun, so follow along if you feel like it, but mostly: will you rejoice with me that I’ve stopped the rat race and am choosing rest and margin and joy instead?! And friends, I know my story isn’t unique. Are you struggling today, completely dry because the demands on your time are too numerous to list? Can you make a plan to rest?

Can you step back and look carefully, perhaps start auditing your time and set a goal to truly rest, even a few more hours each week so your mind can heal and your body can catch up? Can you set some healthy boundaries and not allow the daily grind to be a 18-hour or 20-hour grind every day of the week??

I do know it’s not simple, or easy, or quick. It took me almost two years of goal-setting and hard decision-making to get here, but I am cheering for you and your happiness. I would also like to pray for you! Feel free to send me a direct message and share your story if this message resonates with you. I’m absolutely not a professional, but I can be a listening ear for you, and I can share more about the choices I made and how my life has changed so much for the better. xo 

No man (or woman!) is an island. So why does it feel like it sometimes?!

I’ve learned to frequently give myself reality checks when I feel alone or overwhelmed. Who has helped me with the things I’m proud of accomplishing? (Have I thanked them for their support?!) Who is available to give me a boost by accomplishing a part of a huge task, or giving me helpful, wise advice about how they made it through a similar season? (Have I asked them for help, or looked to see what they’re saying?!)

And even more- am I trying to force through, bust life out, bootstrap it till it *happens-* all in my own strength? (Have I reality-checked myself with truth about where my help really comes from?)

Psalm 121 
I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?
My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.
The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.
The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.

{I taught the sweetest group of women a bit about large dahlia installations this summer, and we collaborated on this ombré @triplewrenfarms. It’s pretty awesome, yes?!?! They are, too. 😘 @carolinearnhart__ @merrilyalongfloral@theflowerfarm.co @ethfs}

I used to be so proud of my ability to multitask, but the longer I live the more I believe that successful multitasking is largely a myth. I can do one job really well, or two jobs halfway, but studies are showing we don’t really do two things at once- we just rapidly/constantly switch back and forth between tasks – and that switching is really tiring for our brains! (Google “multitasking is a myth” to see lots of interesting articles, and even try some tests proving the inefficiency of switching!).

Because of this, we don’t allow our harvest crew to text/use social media while they work. We don’t let our kids have a movie on while they’re trying to do homework. These completely common sense decisions are easy to make, and you likely have more examples in your own world of incompatible activities that you don’t allow to happen…. but what about multitasking when you rest?! I’ve been so guilty of “resting” with my family but keeping my phone on/nearby just in case a florist or a bride or wholesaler needs me in the evening.

I’ve fallen into the trap of deciding that “resting” meant not physically working hard but instead doing the accounting for our business on my day off in my jammies. Now I know we have to hustle when starting a business. There’s just a certain amount of “doing all the things” that’s essential. But for your health’s sake, for your family and other significant relationships’ sake, set aside dedicated, complete rest time as soon as you can.

Even a few wholly-resting hours a day are possible at the beginning. Put your phone aside, and sit quietly. Don’t listen to the siren-song of social media when your body stops moving: still yourself and pray or meditate for a few moments. This whole-resting is essential to sanity when you’re working so hard to get things off the ground! 

Rest, for me, doesn’t come naturally. This may sound ridiculous, but I’ve often approached fatigue as a personal challenge. I think, “I can overcome it, if I just dig a little deeper, push a little harder!!” Well— not really; not indefinitely. It worked for a good while, but at a huge, detrimental cost to my health, and I don’t believe it was worth it.
I am a true believer in the value of rest now, but as my farm crew and family could testify, I’m not always good at applying this belief! 
I’ve finally realized that if I’m going to be consistent, I have to approach rest as a challenge. Challenges motivate me! I love competition, especially with mySELF to see how I can improve. I also LOVE plans, lists, and schedules. So, in the past year I’ve “challenged” myself to schedule in rest times, and to stick to them.
It’s been a far-from-perfect journey, but the afternoons where I put away my phone and played a game with my kids have been priceless. The weeks that I have taken a whole day off to rest with my family were fantastic. The months where I stepped away for a more intense, personal retreat have changed me for the better. I am working WITH the grain of my natural proclivity to perform and achieve to make healthy choices, including choosing to rest. I’m “hacking” my bent towards productivity and pouring my energy into rest as much as I pour it into work, each in its own time.
➡️ Importantly, I’ve stopped viewing rest as a vacuum that occurs in the absence of work, and given it its own place of priority and importance. As my perspective about rest has changed, so has my enjoyment of it, and its efficacy has strengthened. 
Are you planning time to rest? A weekly day off? This seemed a complete fantasy to me, considering the demands of our farm business, but Steve and I figured out the steps we needed to achieve in order to get there, and we made it happen. What could you change, over time? How can you “hack” your own personality and re-train/motivate yourself to treasure rest?
You will never regret choosing to truly rest. We were MADE to rest, just as we were made to work.

{Photo @pearlphotographybyelena}

I love this whole passage from C.H. Spurgeon’s Lectures to My Students. So often resting has felt wasteful to me, the need to sleep in order to be efficient seems an oxymoron. But the truth is:
“Rest time is not waste time. It is economy to gather fresh strength.” // As farmers we feel the cycle of the earth deeply, and it resonates. “Earth keeps the Sabbath of the wintry months, and man… must rest or faint; must recruit his vigor or grow prematurely old. It is wisdom to take occasional furlough. In the long run we shall do more by sometimes doing less.”

Less really can be more.