Week 12/June 12, 2015
A few weeks ago I went up to Henderson, NC to spend the
weekend with Dawn D., the artist who creates the beauty under the Meditations
tab on this website, and her handsome husband Tim, a wonderful man and talented
photographer as well. I felt happy, anticipating the fun ahead of me.
North Carolina is a beautiful state. Driving up the highway,
I was treated to big patches of yellow, red and purple poppies thriving in the
medians. Every year these plants start as a seed and turn into a beautiful
expression of color and life. In comparison to other life forms, a flower’s
life span is pretty and short. There are wild flowers that bloom in a field or
on a mountain side and are never seen by a human eye. And yet, they follow
their destiny and express their purpose.
I was struck by this miracle that I take for granted. The
simplicity and immediacy of a flower says a lot. With the necessary ingredients
and environment, the seed breaks open into a small plant, grows and develops,
finally unfurling into stems, leaves, buds and eventually a flower. I want to
have this kind of faith in myself. To believe that, like a flower, I have the
ability to trust in and express the blueprint of my unique DNA. Just thinking
about the word trust is making me feel grateful. As I was contemplating what to
write about for this week’s blog, I was feeling pressure. I’ve been too busy
lately, and I’m feeling it:
disconnected, irritable, empty. Dawn D. and I were texting, as is our
habit many mornings, and she sent me a picture of a thistle she took yesterday
on her shooting adventure (and posted on June 9). And there was my answer of what to write
about.
I’ve seen flowers in medians many times since my visit with
Dawn, and each time I do, I’m reminded of what is in my custody: a command to be my fullest expression of self.
Since I was raised in the Christian tradition, the phrase, “…consider the
lilies of the field…,” (from the verses in Matthew 6:28- 29) would ticker tape
across my mind. It is a Bible verse that I heard quoted many times throughout
my life. The verses before and after talk about trusting that, like these
flowers that just grow, we can trust that we have a purpose, to not worry about
our basic needs and to put our spirituality first.
When I view my life in context of the millions of years the
Earth has been in existence, the 80 or 90 that I may be on this planet are
fleeting. I am aware that, like a flower or blade of grass, I am here today and
gone tomorrow. I want to be able to hold both this humility while at the same
time taking inspiration in from a poppy and a lily and dare to dream that my
life can be the miraculous expression of something beautiful and worthwhile.
NN