When Slowing Down Becomes a Way to Abide

 Abide 🌿

It’s September. The last time I showed up here was June—and honestly, back then I wasn’t doing too well. A lot has happened since then. I finished the research for my book (yay!), but I also had to learn something new: pacing.

With POTS (a condition where your heart rate jumps when you stand up, making you dizzy and exhausted) and PEM (post-exertional malaise, which means you crash after doing even small things), pacing is essential. Step back. Slow down. Stop before you hit the wall. Easier said than done, of course.

And strangely, that’s exactly what abide has been teaching me.

Abiding isn’t only about staying close to the Lord (though that’s the heart of it). It’s also about not running ahead. Not rushing. Not getting swept into the social media frenzy. These days, I’m inching my way through Psalm 27—one word study at a time. Not to share online, not to impress anyone, but just for myself. It feels like re-learning how to chew slowly and savor what God is teaching me.

It’s also about being present—with my husband, with my daughter, and with my boys who are about to hop on a plane to Croatia. Today yes.

Everyone seems busy—sometimes it feels like busyness is its own kind of virus. And honestly… could POTS and PEM just be side effects of that virus? Someone should do a study on it. 😉

Although I wasn’t very active here on this blog, I was quite busy on my other three blogs: my faith blog, my photo blog, and my author blog. They’re written in Dutch, but no worries—there’s a translation button on all of them. 

Here are the links if you’d like to visit:

Kostbaar
Frozen Moments
Aritha's Schrijfblog

“Abide in Me… and learn the sacred rhythm of slowing down.”

💖 The Blessings Are in the Small Things

It’s Satarday, and I feel the need to slow down. I’m joining Susanne at Living to Tell the Story to pause and give thanks for the good things—this week. Maybe these things seem small, but they matter. 

Here’s my list:

1. I started walking in the woods again. It’s hard, so I’m taking it slow—no big goals, just enjoying what I see. And if I can’t enjoy it right then, I take photos so I can look at them later. I saw so many beautiful things—especially the color of the forest in the soft sunlight. The spring green of the leaves has already turned into a mature green. It’s going so fast.

Thank God we’ve had rain these last few days. In the photo below, you can see a huge puddle in the forest.

2. I had an important talk on Wednesday with the doctor, and my husband came with me. That meant a lot to me. ❤️ A possible diagnosis of POTS.  I now have two weeks to see if it fits, and then we’ll talk about it more at our GP’s office to see how the process will continue.

Here’s a photo of a test I had on Thursday at our GP's office. First I had to lie down for 15 minutes, then stand up (while they checked my blood pressure). I got bored during those 15 minutes, that’s why I took photos from my lying-down position.

 

3. I finished reading a book, and for some reason, it touched me. 

The Recipe of Dreams is the first book in a captivating family saga about the women in a soap factory.

It’s 1865. Hanna grows up in her father’s soap factory, learning the craft from a young age. She’s talented and full of ideas, but her father doesn’t take her seriously just because she’s a woman. Still, she secretly creates new recipes for lovely, fragrant soaps.

She’s also hiding her love for Louis, the doctor’s son. When their relationship is threatened by family problems and her brother’s serious illness, Hanna’s whole world starts to fall apart. But she decides to fight – for her love and for her dream of one day running her own soap factory.

The Recipe of Dreams is the first part of the exciting new series The Women of the Soap Factory.

4. I feel so blessed that the spark to write has returned. I’m continuing with my memoir. 

5. My daughter came over, and we went thrifting. I get dizzy walking around in shops, so it was also a little test for me. But it went well!  I paid for what she picked out for herself.

These are the 3 pieces of clothing I bought. Lucky me, they fit—I was too tired to try them on at the store! 😄

Gratitude is often found in the small things. 

💛 Do you like thrifting or reading or walking?

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Over the course of the week, I’ll be visiting everyone else who joined this challenge or who left a comment here. See you soon! 😊

Friday’s Fave Five – I Got the Flu

It’s the last Friday of the month, and I’m feeling the need to slow down.  I’m joining Susanne now, at Living to Tell the Story, to cultivate gratitude by pausing to remember the good things of the week—and this month too. 

💖 Maybe these things seem small, but they matter. 

Here’s my list for this week:

1️⃣ Last Saturday I came down with a fever and spent most days in bed or garden chair. Thankfully, by Wednesday I began to feel better. My cough is still lingering a bit, but I’m so grateful the fever is gone.

2️⃣ My son gave me a lovely candle after an outing. It smells amazing, and it has little minerals inside that I plan to put on my windowsill later.

3️⃣ I joined a free workshop called Van Scrollen Naar Lezen (From Scrolling to Reading) and was so enthusiastic about it.

4️⃣ I wrote an Instagram post about a special “mistake” in my flower.

5️⃣ I’m absolutely fond of books with an animal as the main character! I did a lot of reading this week. Even though I felt sick, I finally had time to enjoy my books!

These were my little blessings of the week. 💕

I wrote this about a flower with a flaw:

🌸 This flower doesn’t grow the way it’s supposed to.
It twists into a spiral, growing crooked along the way.
They say it’s a mistake at the growth point.
They call it fasciation—a kind of growth disorder.
The stem widens, as if several parts have merged together.
It can happen because of cold, stress, damage, or disease.

Just like me.
At one point, I thought:
Too much has gone wrong.
Too much has grown crooked.

But now, years later, as I look back,
I see that something has grown after all.
In the depths, where everything seemed broken.

God can really bring something beautiful to life
even in places where it seems impossible.
I still don’t understand how He does that.
But I admire Him.
For who He is.
For what He does.

What you can’t see now
may become a source of wonder later.

“Even the crooked growth can carry fruit.”

🌀 “He makes everything beautiful in its time.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

Five Blessings on a Friday Evening

It’s Friday evening, and I’ve taken a quiet moment to look back.
Not to analyse or to fix—just to notice.
To trace the little things that brought light into the ordinary days.

I am sitting on my red bench. It’s evening now. The sun has set, but I still heard the blackbirds singing—one last line of music before the day truly ends. And I look back. 

1. Coffee time at 10:30.
Every morning around 10:30—it’s our routine. My husband and I share a latte in the office that’s attached to our house. He pauses his work, I pause mine. We talk, sometimes laugh about nothing in particular, and I feel so deeply blessed to share that moment each day.

👇Dutch: And this is coffee ☺

2. Swallows overhead.
I was sitting in a garden chair with a bowl of oats when I heard them. Swifts, I think. Back from Africa. An Instagram friend from Israel once showed me photos of swallows resting there on their journey. I remember saying, “Just a little longer, and they’ll be in the Netherlands.”
And yes, here they are again.

The photo of the swallow is a bit blurry—but it gives you the idea.

3. My amaryllis bloomed.
A birthday gift from November—now finally in bloom. And what a bloom it is. It felt like a small miracle. Sometimes things take time, but they still come.

I took this photo today.
Can you see the raindrops on the window?
Finally—rain.

4. Photos from the windmill.
On his way home from the village, my husband always takes a little detour down the windmill path just to see how things are progressing. They’re fitting new sails on the mill, and he often sends me a photo of the latest changes. 

Two photos—
The one with the blue sky is from earlier.
You can see the year of construction engraved in the brickwork: 1911

5. A walk, and young birds.
Going for a walk was a small victory. Because of my symptoms (like a racing heart when I stop or bend down), walking can feel uncertain. But I did it. And it went well. A victory. And a blessing.

And there they were: young godwits! And baby redshanks—like little puffballs on stilts.

I’m attaching a little video… Click to enlarge
Mom and dad godwit with their chick.
Look closely—you’ll spot the little one!

😐 Oh, now I see it—what a pity, the quality is quite poor.

What were your blessings this week?

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👉Linked to Susanne's Friday's Fave Five

Go Back to the Garden

Once upon a time, there was a girl who couldn’t knit. Or crochet. Math confused her. Baking? Just about okay — if no one looked too closely. Home wasn’t exactly a cheerful place either. Not much laughter. But she had something else. She saw beauty in flowers. In the way light touched a poppy. In how even a tired dandelion still looked alive.

She wandered through the garden, took photos, and posted them on Instagram with quiet little captions. Nothing dramatic — just what she saw, what she felt. Some people replied kindly. A few even said: “Your posts help me slow down. I needed that.”

And she needed it too.

Until one day, someone said something.
Not loudly. Not rudely. But just enough to shake her a little:

“You should come talk to me sometime instead of wandering around that garden all day.”
“Maybe try doing something a bit more useful.”
“It’s nice, sure… if you’ve got time for that kind of thing.”

It came from someone she knew. Not her closest friend, but close enough to get under her skin.

And it worked.

She felt a bit stupid. Like she’d been wasting her time. Like noticing small beautiful things didn’t really count. So she deleted her account. Put her phone away. She bought a stack of books about flowers and curled up on the couch.

This is how jealousy sometimes works.

It doesn’t come with flashing lights or big words like “I’m jealous!”
It comes dressed up as concern. Or logic. Or a “friendly suggestion.”

“Shouldn’t you use your time for something real?”
“I’m just more practical — I don’t really get into that soft stuff.”
“You have time for that. I’m too busy.”

And if you’re the type who picks up on moods, who doesn’t want to bother anyone, you shrink a little.
You stop sharing what you love.
You feel guilty for enjoying it.
You make yourself smaller.

But someone else’s discomfort is not your fault.
And it’s not a reason to make yourself invisible.
Or to crawl away.

You don’t have to delete your photos.
Or swallow your words.
Or leave the garden.
You don’t have to say: “Sorry I found something beautiful today.”

Go back to the garden.
Because there’s nothing wrong with beauty in flowers.
Or simply: being yourself for a while.

-ˋˏ ༻✿༺ ˎˊ-

“Abide in Me, and I in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in Me.” — John 15:4 

He doesn’t ask you to be more useful, louder, or different.
He simply says: stay close.
And from there — you may quietly become what you were made to be.

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This is a fictional story, written for a challenge about how other people's emotions can affect you.