1KHO 598: Let Beauty Do Its Work | Ruth Chou Simons, The Way of the Wildflower

The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast

Ginny Yurich

Parenting, Kids & Family

4.9 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 16 October 2025

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What if the cure for our anxious, overconnected lives is right outside the door? In this deeply human conversation, Ruth Chou Simons—artist, author, and mom of six—joins Ginny to explore how beauty, especially in nature, becomes a real antidote to hurry, worry, and screen-saturated living. From Jesus’ invitation to “consider the lilies” to the way wildflowers preach resilience, individuality, and dependence, Ruth shows how getting outside forms our souls as much as it strengthens our kids. You’ll hear vivid stories: morning glories as a picture of friendships that ebb and bloom; the extra-beautiful columbine as a reminder not to shrink back; the ache of a changing home as children launch, and the bluebell pointing us toward a truer, lasting home. Ruth also shares the moment her son suffered a serious mountain-biking injury—and how she painted wildflowers in the ICU, choosing to shift her gaze from fear to the faithful Gardener. Together, she and Ginny talk about making unhurried lives in hurried times, giving our families “dosing and spacing” for wisdom, and packing a small “to-go” kit of tactile hobbies so we reach for creation, not just a screen, when life turns. Listen in if you’re longing for a gentler rhythm, a sturdier hope, and a practical way to invite beauty into your ordinary days—starting with one walk, one flower, one moment of attention. Get your copy of The Way of the Wildflower here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Right, that's it. Come on. Lights out. You've got a test tomorrow. Just two minutes. I'm about to reach the next level. It's going off now. Yeah, whatever. Let's see. Where's the app? Oh, here it is. What? How? Oh, no. You're out. Better look next time. Mom! It's game over for late nights on school nights. EE Wi-Fi controls help you get them off the Wi-Fi and into bed.
0:22.8	More parents are choosing EEBroadband, the UK's fastest growing broadband provider.
0:27.8	To verify I see EE.com.com.
0:29.9	Welcome to the 1000 Hours Outside podcast.
0:32.3	My name is Ginny Urge.
0:33.1	I'm the founder of 1000 Hours Outside and back today.
0:36.2	What an honor back today, Ruth Joe Simons. Welcome.
0:40.1	Oh, it's so good to be here. Thanks for having me. It's really cool because I have admired your
0:45.6	work for a very long time, long before we ever connected. Just so beautiful what you put out into the
0:50.7	world. And for me, especially, like, I don't really have that in me. Like, I'm not good at the beauty and the, I mean, those things are important, you know, and like, you're just so good at it. Like, from your, everything from your style to your artwork, to your, the background that you're sitting in right now, it's just really well put together. And I talked to this man recently named Arthur Brooks, and he was talking about how beauty really can be an antidote to depression. And we just don't have enough beauty in our lives anymore. Beauty coming from nature, just beauty in general. I thought, gosh, that was really powerful. So then we got to meet in person, and I was like, you've got these rings in such a cool style. We got to sit on this panel
1:27.5	together. We've just gotten to cross pass in person as well. So what a gift. Thank you for being here. Oh, you're so kind, Jenny. I admire you, girl. So I'm telling you, we are all just gifted in different ways. I just happen to like to communicate through a whole bunch of artsy aesthetics. That's just kind of the way God made me, I guess.
1:45.7	Yeah, and bring all of this beauty into the world. You've got a wonderful story. We've talked about
1:50.1	some of your other books on here when strivings cease. Gosh, I love that title. It comes from such a
1:56.0	beautiful hymns. We've talked about that and some of your other books. But you have a new one coming
1:59.3	out. You're a mom of six boys.
2:02.9	And getting outside with them also allowed you to have a lot of beauty in your life through
2:08.5	flowers and other parts of nature.
2:10.2	Like you've got to get outside when you've got six boys.
2:12.7	Right.
2:13.1	I mean, I didn't think I was signing up for this life because I was like, you know, having boys,
2:20.1	it's going to be so fun. It'll be, it'll be fine. They're going to wear overalls and it'll be
2:24.1	little little gentlemen. No, they're also into dirt and high country excursions and they want
	...

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