SHE WHO SPARKLES - Jennifer Reid

The day my family has been waiting for finally arrived on Saturday…my beautiful niece’s wedding. It was such a wonderful day and so worth the planning, stress and energy that inevitably comes with a wedding.

My niece and new nephew are now in Paris for their honeymoon, with the rest of us only wishing we were there too. I know Rob & Liz treasured sharing their special day with loved ones, but somehow I don’t think they’d be too impressed if we followed them to Paris!

Following the big day, there has been a running commentary via phone chats, emails and facebook about the wedding itself, the ceremony, the food, the band, the dancing, the outfits, the venue, and the beautiful couple. And thanks to my lovely husband, daughter, sisters-in-law and niece (M. Sunflower photographer), I have an abundance of photos to reminisce over.

But now to the most important question we all have when it comes to a wedding – “how did the bride look?”

All I can say is….OH-MY-GOODNESS! See for yourself…

Of course, the groom looked very handsome indeed, but the bride literally SPARKLED! She was truly magnificent, and what made her sparkle all the more is the beauty we all know she has within. I know she’s my niece, but she is an amazing woman and I am so proud of her. And I’m so happy for her because I just know her life with Rob will be filled with love, sweetness and sparkle forever!

The second question people usually ask is “how was the food?” I would have to say it was more like fine dining than wedding fare. The reception was held at Oliveto Ristorante at Rhodes and everything about it was impeccable.

For entrée, I had Fried Calamari with semi dried tomato, basil, garlic & chilli….

My main was Beef Eye Fillet with crushed potato, beetroot, red wine & salmoriglio (a Sicilian light brine marinade)…

Dessert was the extravagant dark chocolate mud wedding cake, served with vanilla bean gelato and fresh fruit platters…

There were also hand-made chocolates, lovingly made by one of my clever cousins as a gift….

With all this talk about the bride “sparkling”, I must tell you more about where the title of my post comes from. A precious friend of mine once gave me the most beautiful nick-name I have ever been given….”she who sparkles”. It was just after I’d gone through pretty heavy-duty cancer treatment. I was feeling worse for wear, my hair was only just starting to grow back and admittedly, I was feeling far from “sparkly”. But to be told that I am “covered in glitter (blessings) and … constantly giving away glitter without realising it” was enough to spark my heart and at that very moment, I realised the importance of telling a person when they have impacted your life. This is what my friend did…she wanted me to know that she had watched me through my cancer journey and her hope was renewed, her trials seemed to diminish and her zest for life was heightened. She told me that I continued to radiate joy even when I probably didn’t feel like it.

So now, whenever I’m feeling a bit down or weary or anxious, I remember I am “she who sparkles”. I remember I’m the one who is “constantly giving away glitter without even realising it”. If this is true, then I have a responsibility to the people around me to nurture myself so I can go on “sparkling” for many years to come. I need to sparkle for my husband, my daughter, my son, my mum, my huge family, my friends. I need to sparkle for my God who created me, so that people can see that even after something as horrible as cancer, there is still hope!

Having said all that, I don’t want you to think I’ve got tickets on myself. Of course I “sparkle” to the people who love me; we all do. But the reason I’m sharing it is to encourage you to sparkle, even when you don’t feel sparkly. Be kind to yourself and know that you are precious to your family and your friends at all times; whether you’re on top of the world or down in the dumps. Don’t let anything put out your spark… even though it might be diminished at times, before you know it you’ll be sparkling again for all the world to see…just as long as you don’t give up on yourself.

As mentioned in my last post, I recently attended Colour Conference, where I was in the company of literally thousands of “sparkling” women of all ages. A “sisterhood” of women with the ONE dream…to make the world a better place.

(Left: my beautiful daughter Jasmine; right: my beautiful niece Adi – enjoying some “sisterhood” time)

The founder and host of Colour, the inspiring Bobbie Houston of Sydney’s Hillsong Church, says that it is a conference “about believing in the potential of women”. She says:

“I think when you capture and mobilise the feminine heart – there is no end of amazing endeavor that women can accomplish and be involved in”. Bobbie also tells us “the meaning of Sisterhood is beautiful. It means empathy that one woman or a company of women have for another. The meaning of empathy means to identify and feel loyalty towards. So the true heart of the Sisterhood is more than just sympathising with someone going through a difficult time. It’s deeper than that. It involves compassion, which commands response from our heart, as does empathy. At the very core of the Sisterhood we come together and have lots of fun and games and girl connect time (and that’s important – we need one another) but at the end of the day – it’s about every day girls, rolling up their sleeves and seeking to make a difference in their world… and not only that but inspiring others to make that difference also.”

One of the many thought-provoking themes that stayed with me is “LOVE SAVES”…

Above is a photo of a single paper heart I spotted on the floor just in front of me. It was one of countless paper hearts that came streaming from the rafters during one of the magnificent performances. To me, this was symbolic of all I was about to hear at the Conference. I heard what a sprinkling of LOVE from the hearts of women willing to “sparkle” can achieve on the earth – orphans are rescued, human traffickers are jailed, women and their families are freed from poverty, and there are many and varied stories of needs being met.

All of these amazing stories could have made me feel really inadequate. But the thing is, I may not be able to travel to Eastern Europe or Africa to save another human being, I may not be able to adopt an orphan, and I may not have an endless supply of cash to give to those in need, but I can certainly start by making a difference in my own little part of the world. I can sparkle and sprinkle love in my household; I can be positive and encourage those around me; I can bake cupcakes for my sick neighbour; I can SMS someone to tell them they’re loved and thought of; I can visit someone who might be lonely. And you just never know what the ripple effect will be from a humble display of “sisterly love”, or from one simple act of kindness. This is what I was encouraged to do at Colour – to impact the world, by impacting my own backyard first.

There’s a John Mayer song I love called “Daughters”, in which Mayer urges fathers to be good to their daughters. We all know that both parents have a responsibility to love and nurture their children, so that they grow up to be adults of good character. But what strikes a cord with me in this song is the line, “girls become lovers who turn into mothers, so mothers be good to your daughters too”. This is the line that reminds me of my own responsibility. I believe that a mother’s influence on a child, and indeed the whole family dynamic, is very powerful. I know if I completely fell apart when I was diagnosed with breast cancer, it would not have been good for my husband or children at all. If I lost my sparkle, they would surely have lost theirs. I couldn’t risk that, so I had to fight for my sparkle and will continue to do so for as long as I live!

Taking this a little further, it’s not just a mother’s heart that is vital, but the feminine heart generally. You don’t have to be a mother to impact your world. When the feminine heart is at peace, it makes for a joyful home, and the more joyful homes we have around the place, the more peace there will be on our planet. After all, a tiny sparkle can ignite a flame, so my encouragement to you is to nurture your sparkle!

“I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do” Helen Keller.