As we wind down this final full holiday week at the shop my mind focuses on the many blessings that surround me, all of which are centered around a joyful heart.
It's easy to get wrapped up and thrown off a soulful track during the holidays. I've done it many times over the years only to experience that same uneasy feeling that I get when I lose thought of the real reason for the Christmas season. My joyful heart has evolved with each year passing as I would imagine one's does, but I'm gracefully reminded of the joy as I service the customers that walk through my apothecary door.
For instance, a customer arriving to pick up her basket of seventy bars of Bittersweet, and as I'm explaining to her how heavy the basket was, a gentleman walks around the corner and says, I will carry this out for you! The right time, the right place, nope... That's not how it works!
Possibly my joyful heart could be filled with glory from a picture that a customer shared when she came in yesterday. She had been in a week ago and purchased eczema oil. As she shared the picture of a before, her arm was inflamed and irritated and the eczema was running rapid. She pulled up her sleeve and showed me her arm after using the oil for one week. Her arm was almost completely healed! My gratitude explodes when a customer shares a story like this!
To think that some twenty-four, almost twenty-five, years ago a dream of building an apothecary business with a mere one-hundred dollars probably would not have seemed possible if I ever stopped to ponder. However, I never did. Ponder that is. Since that April day back in 1997, I've looked back on it all only to have my heart filled with joy. A type of joy that is surrounded in love, peace, and fulfillment. For this and many other things, I'm forever grateful.
It's been a whirl wind of emotions this past year all of which dangle here and there, but my sense of joy and peace outshine them, always. For this I'm also grateful.
There's a phrase in the book that I'm writing that really makes you stop and think. At least it does me.
Faith is built on trust, and trust is cultivated by faith.
Faith and trust lean on each other to create the perfect union, and one that can't be easily broken.
As I stop and reflect upon that thought I'm reminded of just how lovely life can be.
Peace be with you today and every day.
Jill xo
