Precious Reminders

50X60cm, Acrylic on Linen, Framed in Tasmanian Oak
 
Association is a powerful thing. It's incredible how a sight, a smell, a feeling, even an emotion, can transport you back to a time long ago. Flowers in particular hold so many memories, so many emotional connections. They are produced from the land, where we grow up, holiday, settle down. They are seasonal, filling the air with their perfume year after year, along with our calendar of birthdays, Christmases, school vacations. They are beautiful, being given to celebrate, to console, to win-over, and to congratulate. We attach to them meanings - strength, purity, courage, love... but to me, the flowers and foliage from my land and the memories I have of them mean more than any symbol they have been assigned. 
Gumnuts for me will always hold memories of my childhood, nestled in my father's arms in the dim light of the lounge-room, my sister and I bathed and in our pyjamas ready for bed, while my mother read to us the adventures of Snuggle Pot and Cuddle Pie - the little gum nut babies and their Australian Animal friends. I remember the excitement of adventures in our local park, finding a branch of gum nuts and running to show mum. I remember the earthy smell of the gum trees as we ran barefoot beneath their branches... and years later, as my dad and I ran past during our afternoon running training for the high school cross country. Following me up north to the place I have now settled down, the earthy smell on my morning runs causes me to look up, and I am transported back...
The smell of flowering eucalypts takes me back to family holidays. Visiting our cousins, the tall trees towered over the lake across from the beach. I remember floating on my back, the sun warm on my face, drinking in that sweet scent. Year after year, those tiny white flowers honeyed the air with their perfume ... and with that scent, I am transported back... 
The protea takes me back to hours of wedding bouquet scrolling after having a beautiful ring placed on my finger - the beautiful flower creating such vibrant bursts of colour among the array of foliage and other Australian botanicals. The stunning cinerea - silver-blue eucalypts hemmed in pink - takes me back to the wedding day, captivated with the delicate foliage as I trace the leaves with my perfectly-manicured fingers, trying to keep my head still for the hairdresser. Now, seeing the morning light dance on the silver-blue foliage, sparkling as hundreds of precious jewels bursting from the branches, I am transported back to that perfect day, and my heart is filled with joy. 
Through all the seasons that each flower represents, there is a constant in them all. In each moment, my Heavenly Father was there. He was there in the love of my parents, in the awkward high school years, in the perfect sunny days of holidays. He was there shaping me, comforting me, protecting and providing for me. The flowers He created remind me of those times, and of His presence through my life. Precious, beautiful reminders of the love of my Heavenly Father.