The Self-Blessing Bud

“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” —Anais Nin

{ “Flower buds in soft focus” –  Photo credit: Qi Wei Fong via CC by 2.0 license }

It’s mid-November, and we’ve spent the last few weeks “winterizing” the garden and the house. It hasn’t snowed yet where I live, though the northern part of the state has already been blanketed. Soon it will be time for holiday decorations and family gatherings. Thanksgiving. Christmas. My favorite parts of the year.

But today is bright and clear, and from my cozy perch inside, with the warmth of the sun beating through the windows and the tiny specks of green still peeking out from the garden, it might as well be spring.

So just for today, I’m dreaming of flowers.

The early-spring bulbs have all been planted, ready for their long winter sleep. Did you know that some buds can survive the winter too? “They can be in a resting state, lying dormant over winter or when conditions are dry, and then commence growth when conditions become suitable. Before they start growing into stem, leaves, or flowers, the buds are said to be in an embryonic state.”

And so it is with us. . . We too face unfavorable times for growth and harsh winters of creative drought. We blossom and grow in fits and starts. Sometimes quick and brilliant. Sometimes slow and awkward

But we carry within us, always, our dreams and ideas — a spark of life, of creativity — and if we are patient and attentive and brave, we too will be ready to bloom when the time is right.

{ Photo credit: John Morgan via CC by 2.0 license }

“The bud
stands for all things,
even for those things that don’t flower,
for everything flowers, from within, of self-blessing;
though sometimes it is necessary
to reteach a thing its loveliness,
to put a hand on the brow
of the flower
and retell it in words and in touch
it is lovely
until it flowers again from within, of self-blessing.”

—Galway Kinnell, from the poem “Saint Francis and the Sow”