Thursday, September 16, 2010

Wake up call

I found this beautiful flower opening to the sun in a remote corner of the garden this morning.  She looks a bit like a giant crocus, but of course it's the wrong season for that.

Funny, isn't it -- how we think we know what's appropriate for each season of our lives, and then some surprise emerges.  For us in the Northwest, who expect cloudy days in wintertime, a patch of sunshine in November seems an incredible gift, and a brief rainshower in summer even more surprising.

As we cycle through those internal seasons we all have -- which so often have little to do with the external seasons (though I have noticed over the years that my creative juices tend to go into hibernation in wintertime) -- I love those moments of relief: a burst of laughter in the midst of grief, a moment of seriousness in contrast to a sunny mood.

I wonder if those startling blessings are actually always there, it's just that we get in the habit of seeing things in a certain way; if these bursts of light in the darkness and the clouds that give definition to a blue sky are simply a wakeup call.  Wake up! Be present!  Don't assume that how things have been is how things will always be...

4 comments:

Maureen said...

Lovely to see your post this morning. The image is an attention-grabber; the flower looks lit from within.

Have a great week. Hugs.

Water Lily said...

Is it an autumn crocus?

Patricia Ryan Madson said...

I think you have hit the point exactly. Habits of seeing and doing cloud the truth of a moment. It seems that this "waking up" we know that we need to do in order to live fully is an eternal process. We never really Wake Up. It's more as if we are in a continual stream of moments in which waking is possible. Different things can trigger this: beauty as well as grief. Even boredom can be a pointer. I admire your writing and your images. They bring me blessings as well as wake up calls. Thank you.

Diane Walker said...

My friends tell me this is a Christmas crocus -- and suggest that it implies it is still possible to bloom late in your life!