Flower power

As rain falls gently yet steadily from the sky this afternoon, I’m thinking of flowers. Everything spring seems late this year, so instead of “April showers bring May flowers,” I’m rooting for May showers to bring May flowers. And June flowers. And, oh why not, July flowers, too.

It’s National Garden Meditation Day today. Every day has an arcane calendar memorial, thanks to creative marketers always looking for a hook, but commemoration of greenery is quite lovely this time of year. The grass in southern Wisconsin is decidedly green right now but we’re all waiting for the trees to sprout leaves. A hearty crop of headstrong daffodils are blooming in every other yard around here, and I spy a few tulips about to burst forth, but we have lots of room in our gardens and in our minds for more.

Therefore, the little group meditation group I lead focused our attention on this single pansy I snared from a backyard pot planted by Tyler’s uncle earlier this season. I was inspired by a friend who shared her own meditation practice on a flower. She said this:

“The meditation time is spent thinking about nature and life and the interconnectedness that a single flower brings to the world. How the worms in the soil and the sun and the rain and the bees and the butterflies work hand-in-hand seamlessly to bring a flower to life. And the transient period of time that a flower blooms reminds us of our own transient time on earth. And how we can feel that interconnectedness with all beings.”

Isn’t that lovely? I can only hope I bring as much beauty to my time here on earth as a flower does during hers.

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