Life at Work

You can learn a lot by observing a simple bouquet of flowers. A few days ago my husband bought a bundle of tiger lilies (he knows how much I love different lilies and irises) that were still unopened. He does this because they'll last longer, but I really enjoy the process of watching them open. Here are a few things I've observed:

The bouquet looked a little silly and anemic at first, but I carefully cut the stems, lower foliage and food mixture anyway. I noticed one that bloomed prematurely but by the next day it had wilted and I knew I'd have to eventually cut that one off anyway.

A couple of days passed and only one or two had bloomed. They seemed like fragile little beings, and a few looked a little dingy. Still I faithfully changed the water and cut the stems.

It's now the fifth day and there are eight beautiful blooms, not even halfway through the entire bouquet but it's beginning to blossom and take shape. I don't even need to see the end result of the whole batch opening because seeing life at work is all I need.

I don't know what each one of these blossoms represents in your life, but it's crystal clear on my end. It's coming. Maybe there's an early blossom that comes but dies because of a few setbacks. But we keep going. Whatever treasured bloom it is that has yet to open is out there in existence. We just need to keep tilling and working at our part in the meantime. You can't force the flower to open - it'll just do it when it's time...