photo by Lorri Nussbaum keeperscards@comcast.net
I was rather hoping for a better show from my irises. Some years they burst forth faster than I can count the blooms. Not this year. Five blooms, and I don’t see any more hopeful stems. I’m sure a better gardener than I—a real one, for instance—could explain the science of why some years are better.
I just know I love it when those purple blooms run rampant over the front yard.
Then come the daylilies and the larkspur and the cosmos and other stuff I don’t remember the names of.
I’m feeling metaphorical today, I guess. I love a yard full of beautiful flowers, but I shirk off the work involved. Life is that way.
I know the beauty and joy I would love to see blooming all over my life, but I don’t always like to get myself dirty making it happen. Time for relationships. Difficult conversations. Eating well. Striving to do the best work I can, regardless of the task. Laughter. Listening.
photo by Lorri Nussbaum keeperscards@comcast.net
Whether the flowers do well or not, I can always count on the weeds. It rained today, so tomorrow the weeds will be six inches taller and will have multiplied a dozen times over. I hate that.
photo by Lorri Nussbaum keeperscards@comcast.net
It’s true enough that the weeds in my life—the ugly stuff, the disappointing stuff, the really hard stuff—don’t need much encouragement to fester, either. And if I don’t take care of them right off, while they are small and loosely rooted, they reach overwhelming dimensions rapidly
One day rain comes into my life in the form of a disheartening outcome, and suddenly all I see is a field of weeds and I am persuaded I will never see another bloom. Ever. Again.
But I would be wrong. Joy comes in many colors and shapes. Let’s keep looking for it.
Don’t let the weeds choke out the beauty in your life. Chase joy. Catch joy. Celebrate joy. Share joy.
