Values Quotes – Ina Garten on Extravagance

Todays quote is from Ina Garten, author of numerous cookbooks and popular host of the Food Network program Barefoot Contessa.

A lovely quote from Garten is:
“My extravagance is my garden – it’s the first thing I look at every morning when I wake up. It gives me so much pleasure.”

What a beautiful way to begin a day!

As a differentiating value, Extravagance means exceeding the appropriate limits of probability or truth; or unrestrained excess.

Now, I bet when you think about extravagance, your thoughts go to people who have way more than enough, such as billionaires, famous movie stars, and maybe even royalty.

And yet, Ina the famous cook can appreciate the extravagance of her garden.

Are we not also blessed with extravagance all around us, every day? Look around. The air that we breathe and the blue sky above us. The vastness of the oceans. The rain needed to water the crops and gardens that feed us throughout the year.

Then, there is a wealth beyond measure in the earth beneath us. And there is an extravagance of abundance in the stars in the sky, just waiting for us to discover them.

But my hope is you also experience the extravagance of love around you: the closeness of family and good friends who care; the excess of someone willing to listen when you need it; and the encouragement for a better future that exceeds all limits of probability.

Let’s appreciate and really enjoy the extravagance of what God provides for us every day!

 

Today’s value was selected from the “Freedom-Prosperity” category, based on the e-book Developing Your Differentiating Values.