Pausing to inhale wafting scent of Daphne, my mind spins backward to the house I grew up in. Smells trigger memories and I know when I catch that rich scent, my spirit revives, I am that young girl again and what better way to enter into the next season of life than this? To take that next step, boldly into the promise. Much like the daffodils, we rise with light, and light penetrates our roots, nourishes the soul and beauty multiplies. And as we step, stealing all the little joys we can, pointing each other towards flashes of light, our load lightens, each step a bit braver, each choice made a little easier. As Henri Nouwen wrote: "The reward of choosing joy, is joy itself." Cultivate joy, release that which no longer nourishes, watch as beauty expands.
Our bed of daffodils began as only a few. Through the years they multiplied, creating splashes of color, blissful tonic for sun-starved souls. And as spring blooms in promise, days stretch longer, casting out chilly gloom, I liken myself to the budding flowers all around.
The Gardener, he tenderly plants his seeds, waters and fertilizers the soil. He breathes life into the budding shoots. Then one day he sees a brilliant golden-yellow bloom atop an elongated verdant- green stem. He is greatly pleased. A few years later, he grins joy, he sings joy; he follows the multitude of glorious with eyes blazing white as the beautiful diffuses all that dark soil. He cries happy all over the flower bed.
By using my brave, by risking the unfurling, the garden will grow, one joyful choice at a time. It's a promise.
"Trust God where you cannot trace Him; Do not try to penetrate the cloud He brings over you, rather look to the bow that is on it. The mystery of God's promise is yours.
~John MacDuff~