Friends are the flowers in the garden of life. (Unknown)
I had great fun at the ACFW Conference. That’s the American Christian Fiction Writers Conference. The ACFW is an organization that promotes Christian fiction and helps writers, both published and those hoping to be published, find ways to improve their writing to entice readers into their fictional worlds.
This week as I joined in singing and prayer, food and fellowship, learning and laughter, I was amazed at the many people who have that desire to make up stories. Many, like me, began writing as children and still have the desire to string words together to make stories. Yet, at the same time that we are alike, we are all each unique. A flower in the garden of storytelling. Each of our stories, even if we start out with the same initial idea, will be different.
Alike and different. Just as flowers are alike and yet so different. The conference was held at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville where a jungle of plants grows in the middle of that hotel. It’s a beautiful place with trees and flowers, waterfalls and pools of water with fish. I had to walk through the tropical gardens to get to the conference area. I need to reword that. I had the privilege of walking through the gardens to get to the conference area. It didn’t even matter that I often circled off into the wrong direction and had to walk twice as far to find my way. My sense of direction is not good. I knew how Fran in These Healing Hills felt when she was lost on those mountain trails.
As I searched out the right directions, I enjoyed the rushing water and found many beautiful flowers. A sign said there were 6,000 different plants representing 200 species of 
flowers and trees. Orchids grew on palm trees and bloomed in many colors. Flowers I couldn’t name lined the paths. I recognized some plants that I’ve had in pots in my house, but here they grew tall and bushy. I thought of stories I’d read about people using machetes to make paths through jungles. Here gardeners made sure the plants were trimmed, the paths open, the flowers easy to see.
And then I would be through the beautiful gardens into a different kind of garden. A garden of writers who are doing their best to improve their craft to bring readers stories. Here I found friends of all types. Some having published many books that readers love. Others at the beginning of the writing journey with hopes of stories to share. The smiles of those many friends are flowers I can bring home in my heart. (Along with the selfies that popped up like dandelions all across Facebook and Instagram.)
Happiness held is the seed; happiness shared is the flower. John Harrigan
You too bring flowers of happiness into my life. Thank you for reading.
Comments 12
You’re right about parking costs! I visited the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum, and paid more for parking than I did for my admission ticket. I think the next time I’ll splurge on a taxi and save money. 😉
But Nashville is truly a beautiful city!
Author
I guess they have you when you come up in a car because you have to do something with it. Hope you enjoyed the museum in spite of the parking cost, Lavon.
Did you have a garden of waiters and waitresses bringing you meals, too?
Author
Actually, many of the meals were included in the conference cost and all of us writers ate in a big meeting room sharing round tables and being waited on by those wonderful servers. The food was fancy but good and I even was blessed to have a few waiters willing to bring me hot tea. 🙂
Beautiful! I was in Nashville a couple of months ago, but didn’t visit Opryland. Now I wish I had. 🙁
Thank you for giving us a glimpse of the garden there!
Have a wonderful week, Ann.
Author
I didn’t go to the Grand Ole Opry although some friends did and had a great time. I was in the hotel the whole time except for a few times I stepped out into the outdoors. If you’re in Nashville, you can stop and check out the hotel gardens, but parking is very expensive at the hotel. Well, everything was very expensive at the hotel, but it was lovely.
Thankyou for letting me get a glimpse of the garden at Opryland! It sounds beautiful. Thanks, too for the beautiful words you pen. They show in everything you write, from your fabulous novels to your daily walks, to your analogies of writers that are like flowers. So glad I found you, favorite author, treasured friend ( although we have never met). You show me God’s beauty every day!
Author
You are so kind, Paula. Thank you so much for your sweet and encouraging words. I like that we’re reading friends and I’m so happy you’ve enjoyed some of my books. We may just be in the same place at the same time one of these days or there’s always the sweet by and by.
It sounds very nice. I didn’t know Opryland had a garden. I thought music was its speciality. Glad you got to tour the maze of flowers.
Author
This is the hotel near the Grand Ole Opry, Carol. Music is definitely the specialty, but in the hotel, they have fabulous atriums filled with exotic plants and flowers. Then you go out from there to many other places to enjoy the Opry music. Plus they did have a radio station broadcasting in one of the areas of the hotel. The hotel is a very busy place for tours and conventions.
Several years ago I was privileged to walk through the atrium at the Opryland Hotel, and it was truly beautiful as well as unforgettable! Reading your description brought happy memories to my mind – thank you for that!
Author
Glad my flower pictures brought back good memories for you, Patricia. I had been in the lobby garden area once years ago, but I think all the plants have grown much bigger since then.