Emerson once said that the earth laughs in flowers.  I agree.  There is a joy evident in flowers that makes the heart light – like laughter. 

For years, I have had a re-occuring dream in which I am living back in my childhood home and the backyard is completely filled with flowers and shrubs that come up naturally each year and create a magnificent and peaceful garden that re-energizes the soul.  In my dreams I just enjoy the beauty – I have no gardening maintenance requirements.  The gardening maintenance requirements coupled with a lack of basic gardening skills is what keeps me from realizing such a garden in my waking hours in my own yard.  I fancy that if I had such a yard I would be forever in a state of happiness and peace.  I wonder if that is why I have the dream – is it to center me in times of stress?  Or is it a metaphor for something else? 

Last Sunday, Jersey, Cheyenne and I went to the International Peace Gardens.  It was my first visit there in my 14 years in the state.  Now is a great time of year to visit the Peace Gardens – the gardens are rich with color and life.  Being there reminded me of the happiness and peace that flowers can offer – their strength, despite what would appear to be their fragility…their ability to be complete in their identity amongst other plantings while still participating in a collective beauty…their uniquess in color, shape, contrast and presentation…all these things come across as microcosms of life generally for me.  In the garden I can see the simplicity and complexity of all things and I am reminded that beauty lies in the ability to just “be” as we are – with all the uniqueness that God has blessed us with.

I took many photos of the flowers at the Peace Gardens – I surmise I hoped to capture something that I could hold on to that would carry me during more difficult days – perhaps a photographic reminder that the garden is a metaphor for life.  In a garden the happiness and peace lie in the flowers while in life the happiness and peace lie in the people that populate our lives uniquely, individually and collectively. 

So a reminder today, courtesy of the Peace Gardens, of the joy and serenity that can be found in flowers – be they actual or metaphorical – I wish you peace in the garden that refreshes you. 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day seven hundred and sixty of the new forty – obla di obla da

Ms. C