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Wednesday, June 05, 2013

discards


The reasons of the heart are leaves in the wind. 
Stand up tall and everything will nest in you. 
Mark Nepo 



Years ago I planted a tea rose beside a small pine tree. The tea rose froze one winter, all but one part and I waited that spring to see what would emerge as it appeared it had frozen down to the stronger but less desirable rose the tea had been grafted onto.

What came up was a beautiful climbing red rose. Normally they don't bloom but once in the spring which is why many prefer tea roses which will bloom all summer.  I could have considered the wild one to be undesirable and dug it up. I didn't and that wild rose has bloomed profusely every year and continues through the summer. This year I realized it had wound its way upward and was heading toward the top of the pine.

Every time I see it I think of how it is like me and those I know. We want the showy blooms. We reject or even would cut out our sturdier and even wilder parts. We miss so much when we don't see them as value also. For me, that unwanted rose has become a reminder of the unexpectedness of life, and I treasure it more than any of the others for that reminder.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Such a beautiful rose and lovely metaphor for discards.

la peregrina said...

I love that metaphor,Rain, it's beautiful.

Wild thing, you make my heart sing

(smiling)

OldLady Of The Hills said...

A lovely lovely Rose and a GREAT and inspiring story, too. You never know what is just around the corner, do you?

Hattie said...

I envy you those roses. We had one rose in our yard here, but it struggled in this climate and finally died.
A wild rose like that, where you are, is a treasure.

Lynn said...

Ah, Rain . . . thank you for this unexpected lovely post. Simply the best of my morning’s blessings.

Mike McLaren said...

Wonderful post. And don't you know, even trying to cut out the wild parts, they still remain, and will flourish when we remember to let them!