A Beautiful Gift

I bought a beautiful flowering orchid about 3 months ago — so pink and perfect. For weeks I enjoyed it’s beauty without any effort to care or nurture it, until one day, I noticed that all the lovely pink flowers had fallen off the stem and they lay in a pile on the floor around the pot— the beautiful orchid 

was now bare and lifeless.

 I really hadn’t been very successful with caring for orchids in the past and usually ended up just throwing them out after a few months of no regrowth. However, this time was different… when I picked it up to throw it in the garbage I stopped... it looked so bare and vulnerable in that moment. I was mindful that maybe it just needed care and attention and nurturing if it was to blossom once again.

So I set aside time to care for it.

I nourished it by adding a little bit of plant food and made sure that it was placed in the right environment —I carefully placed it outside where the mist from the waterfall next door could reach it.

I let it breathe… inhale and exhale… I was so careful not to over water the orchid; I was patient and cared for it gently and carefully… I nurtured it and loved it. Within a couple of weeks, a pink bud appeared and in time it was fully blossoming. 

What a beautiful gift!

My orchid reminds me that just as I was almost ready to give up on it when it wasn’t blooming any longer, that organizations only too often discard people at the first sign of lifelessness.

 It takes time and effort and encouragement to regenerate the mind and the heart and to renew the spirit, it takes time… it takes a pause, it takes self-care, and it takes nurturing, nourishment, and the right environment.

Of course you must be mindful to slow down and to breathe. 

Honour all of the gifts…

 Like the orchid, when beautiful as well as lifeless 

and... that vulnerability is a gift

that can blossom

into a strong and beautiful flower

 A beautiful gift.