Flowering Fridays: Why Bloom?

Geranium, Garden Arts, last week, New Smyrna Beach, FL

I wonder why the flowers bloom.

Most blooms will only last a few days. And it takes so much effort to go from seed to flower.

Sometimes a flower's blooming goes unnoticed.

Sometimes despite their best efforts they never make it to full bloom.

Sometimes their petals get insect holes and splotches.

And sometimes people come around the pluck them off in their prime.

I wonder why the flowers don't just say, "You know, this blooming business is for the birds. It's not worth the time and the effort and heartache to bother blooming."

I wonder why they don't just stay a seed in the dirt. It probably feels a lot safer, warmer and more protected there under the earth.

Then I remember: it's in the flower's DNA to bloom. It's what they were born to do. And it's what they were born to give.

I think the flower knows, on some level, that its bloom — among the millions of other flowers — makes a difference.

Maybe it's difference is profound. Or quite small.

But it does matter.

Be it to a bumble-bee, a butterfly or a weary soul walking by in need of some magic, beauty and mystery.

And so the flower risks it all to do what it's born to do, what it must do, which is to bloom.

I believe we each carry a seed inside of us that is our "bloom" to the world.

And that our earthly journey is to care for and nurture that seed…to find the courage and patience and trust to allow it propagate into the world…and to tend to our unique flower with deep faith, fierce love and profound commitment.

No matter the risks, the obstacles or the niggly little voice that says "why bother blooming?"

We may think our bloom doesn't make a difference. But it does.

It really, truly does.

Tell me, what inspires you to bloom?

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Flowering Fridays is a weekly look at flowers through the lens of what they might teach us about flowering fully in our life. Past editions are here.

Comments

[Swirly]

I am beginning to learn that resisting who I really am is a very painful process. Reading this today is the perfect way to start my morning. Thank you.

[Otis Fret]

This posting has already made a difference. My morning would not be as rich without reading this wisdom. Thank you, and keep blooming.