Plants are amazing. I remember my grandpa – who was a grain farmer – telling me how resilient they are. And he was right. I’ve seen plants come back from hail storms, from not being watered enough or too much, accidentally being dug out when someone is weeding… (I love my plants, but if I’m really honest, there are times when I am not as kind to them as I should be.) But they aren’t only resilient. I think they are simply amazing. You plant a seed in soil, give it water, light (although like us, some prefer being in the dark), and time, and if all goes well, that little seed starts to germinate. And if you give it some more time, water, light, and some love, it keeps growing, and eventually flowers. How is that possible? How can a little seed bring about such beauty and joy?
Then there are the weeds. They grow wherever they are, often no matter what nature – or people – throw at them. And they thrive. They drive me crazy, but if I can get past how cranky they make me, I guess I do have to respect the fact that they will grow no matter what.
Sometimes we see flowers growing where they shouldn’t be – we’ve all seen flowers growing in cracks in cement or soil that seems like nothing could grow there. And yet, there they are, in all their glory, for all the world to see. Yes, sometimes they are dandelions – and yes, I freely admit I don’t like them – but sometimes they are just tough little plants that have made their way in the world. Of course, they are the exception and not the rule, for which they truly deserve our admiration.
Life is rarely what we expect. Sometimes for good, and sometimes not. But no matter what life throws at us, we have choices. Are they always easy? Absolutely not. Sometimes what is thrown at us hits us in the face, knocks us down, and we aren’t sure we will ever be able to get up again. Then what do we do? Do we stay down? Sometimes. And sometimes not. Sometimes – hopefully most of the time – we get up. It might be slowly because we are still a little wobbly, or we might sit straight up, but we get up. We look around and decide what to do next. Maybe we need a rest before we can take on whatever comes next. And maybe we need some help – both to get up and to take our next steps – and that’s okay.
And then, perhaps with a little – or a lot – of help from our friends, we take a few steps. They may be long or short, or maybe even baby steps, but we take them. One at a time. And then, with some light and some love, we start to grow. And we keep growing. And growing. And soon, maybe without our even realizing it, we are blooming. We are doing what we are meant to be doing, and we are giving joy to others with the beauty we bring to the world.
We are blooming where we are planted.