The Rose in the Weeds

The last rose from our sad little rose bush! It bloomed even after that first deep frost we had back in the fall. One last hoorah for that season before taking her long winter's sleep.

For the past few years, we'd seen MAYBE one or two blooms. We thought she was just getting closer to just being done showing off her beautiful gifts. This year, even though they were almost always one at a time, we saw more than half a dozen blooms!! Such a huge surprise!

Guess she's been having a rough past couple years or so right along with us. But, as those marvelous displays of color on each and every petal she created...she definitely should not be counted as down & out quite yet! Still has a lot to share with this world!

We had created this garden space back in the Spring/Summer of 2020, I believe, but as of this past Spring, with life throwing some curve balls my way, I had absolutely ZERO energy to put into any gardens of any sort.

The weeds grew...everywhere, and I just didn't even care. They got so out of hand, so overwhelming, and eventually such a lost cause. After a certain point, the thought was, "What does it even matter?".

I must walk right past each garden on my way in & out of the house. So every day is a reminder of all the things that got neglected these past couple years or so. All the things that have been avoided. All the things that have been pushed to the side because there was just not the reserves to "deal" with it.

But, even in the middle of all of the overgrowth, the madness, the chaos...there were still little pieces of beauty to be found. The flowers found their way thru the weeds to the sun...to the light. There were still pockets of color among the neglected space. This space was created out of love...a place to come to relax, enjoy a slow day, sit in the sun, to feel safe...a beautiful place to just be. Not sure if the flowers really are aware of the neglect that has taken place around them, the negativity, the hard times... but they continue to do what they do even being smack in the center of it.

They accept their surroundings, no matter what they are, and still create an exquisite beauty just where they are in spite of whatever is going on around them. They do not fret about the weeds, or about the neglect...no matter how tough the times are, resiliency is what is shown with every bloom that blossoms. They do not stress over things not being optimal or how they "should be" for the best growing conditions. They do not focus on what was lost this past season, they just keep moving forward! {Or...well, "...they just keep growing towards the light", would probably be a better analogy for them!}

Grow towards the light. What a great mantra to have in life.