Goodness Weekly 04.01.24
“Sweet April showers, do spring May flowers.”
What’s Good
We celebrated Easter yesterday on our campus and loved seeing children run gleefully around our beautiful grounds after morning worship to hunt for eggs and crack cascarones. Spring is in bloom and we’re grateful for wildflowers, cool weather, laughter, and community.
Volunteer of the Month: Kyle Fry! From serving as a Shepherd; a worship leader in the acapella service; a bass player, percussionist, and sound engineer for the worship band; and “Mr. Fix It”around the building, what does Kyle not do? In so many ways, Kyle is the heartbeat of our community. Thank you for all that you do, Kyle!
A Message from Mae
Mae Czarnecki, Communications Coordinator of Sunset Ridge Collective
As a new stay-at-home mom, I spent lots of my days learning new crafty skills. I tried to crochet, I painted murals on my apartment walls, I even remember the stint of putting together rolls of reusable toilet paper. But the one that ended up sticking, for a while anyway, was making felt flowers. I found a way to make sweet little flowers, layered with fabric and buttons, and used my very bald baby as a model. I started my first little side hustle and Etsy shop, Mae Flowers. Every moment that wasn’t spent nursing, washing diapers, and cooking, was spent in a pile of felt and thread.
Every year, as Texas erupts in wildflowers, I’m reminded of this little venture of mine. Posing my daughter and taking product photos is what got me into photography. My love for these little treasures that danced in the sunlight will forever be immortalized in the works I created, and all the iterations since.
If you’ve been on campus the last few weeks, you might’ve noticed that the garden behind the Community Food Pantry is in full bloom. Lupine, and roses, and poppies, all waving hello to our visitors. And this week, they encouraged me.
You see, I’m on social media all day. I’d love to blame it on my job, but it goes beyond that. My feed shows images of influencer women, altered or not, with bodies that look nothing like mine. When I see pictures of myself, I see my thin lips. I see the fine lines where wrinkles will set in. I see my curves and my belly.
Today I brought in a little bouquet from the garden and the downstairs staff swooned over the combination I picked, which included poppies poppies. Most only hold a bloom for a day or so and the petals that had touched my skin had already started to brown. Their delicate leaves, full of wrinkles and fine lines. Their stamens unapologetically round. Their beauty, by design, temporary and coveted.
In that moment of adoration, I felt the need to protect the buds. Let no one harm them, or diminish their short burst of beauty on earth. I immediately felt the irony of my unwillingness to do the same for myself.
We are squarely in spring now, and whether or not you see blooms in your own life, at work, school, in your family, or relationships, I encourage you to be protective of the temporary beauty that each season brings.
This Week
Friday, April 5th, 6-9 pm Kid’s Night Out
April 7th New Worship Times at Sunset Ridge Church, 9am in the Sanctuary and 11am in the Chapel.
Coming Up…
Second Saturday, April 13th
Interested in more of what’s happening at Sunset Ridge Church? Please consider subscribing to Views from the Ridge.
Inhale:
May I appreciate how and when
Exhale:
beauty exists within and around me
Subscribe to Sunset Ridge Collective on YouTube. We will be hosting our umbrella of work all in one place and would love to see you there.
