Apr 12, 2011

a flower

A flower is a gift of love, a gift of life, a gift of fragile beauty.

For me, one of the most basic, simple, everyday gifts is my garden.

My garden has taught me patience, my garden has taught me to be flexible, my garden has taught me that no matter what, life goes on.

Sure it comes with mud and soil, bugs and worms, work and toil, but then, there are flowers.

And there are also birds singing, spiders webbing, snails slithering. Each small square foot of earth holds a tiny microcosm of life, with its own eco-structure, rules and boundaries, cycles and rhythms.

You can watch an ant struggle to move a piece of debris ten times its size, and succeed. A hummingbird will gain sustenance from a blossom that will help it travel thousands of miles, a leaf will rot and sink back into the earth, becoming one with the planet it came from.

When I have a day to spend in my garden, I feel like I have been handed a present, a day to putter and pull, snip and sort, dig and plant. The hours stretch out before me because I forget all about time, all about deadlines or bills or work to be done. It is just me and my tiny patch of earth, this patch that I have fed and watered and planted and replanted and altered and ignored and still, there are flowers.

A flower doesn't have to be beautiful to serve its purpose, to function as the propagator of its species. All it really has to do is set seed. But flowers are beautiful. Each one is a living, breathing organism whose time on this earth may be short, but is always lived to the fullest.

A flower never stops to worry about whether there will be blue skies and sunshine, a flower simply accepts what is with a nod and a smile.

A flower looks forward to every sunrise, and reaches for the sun with everything it has. A flower grows a little, every day. A flower is open and optimistic, and always stays grounded. A flower has strong roots and pretty colors that get it through the greyest of days.

Once a flower has begun to bloom, it is already a survivor.

Each petal is a testament to life. Soft, delicate, beautiful.

A perfectly packaged gift.


12 comments:

Chantal said...

very soft image, love it a lot

Sue@MyArtsDesire said...

You've captured the beauty and the intrinsic wisdom found in a garden so well...!

Leah C said...

Beautiful...the photo and the words! You truly have a gift:)

Catherine Denton said...

Okay, now I want a garden.
My Blog

Marcie said...

Love the parallels and metaphors of the gift of a day in the garden..and life. Here's to summer flowers!!!!

Reena said...

Lovely writing and imagery. And I too love the work outdoors, letting go of all the other pressures of a day.
Reena

ELK said...

poetic amid the words and the petal .. just stunning!!

dbalyoz said...

what a gorgeous post! I bet your garden is stunning kelly. your descriptions certainly are! thank you... xxo denise

Kim Klassen said...

oh kelly.... you put such beautiful thoughts into words.... and such a lovely image....
always a 'gift'...

xxo, im

Heather Mattern said...

So beautiful, your photo and your words!

Jamie said...

I've never attempted to garden, but after reading this I may just have to give it a go.

Anna said...

Your garden wisdom makes me yearn for summer! Lovely! Dreaming of flowers.....