Being a Flower

4:00 am is a special time for me. For the past few months, I have been waking up in the 4:00 hour, refreshed and ready to start my day. I have heard that the early morning hours are the best time for spirit communication. God has been calling me consistently in the 4:00 hour. Sometimes it is 4:13, sometimes 4:08 or 4:18, this morning it was 4:48. It is consistently one of those exact times. The accuracy of the wake up call leads me to believe in the significance of it. Instead of going back to sleep, I have learned to use this time to quietly welcome my day.

This morning I grabbed my journal and went out on the back patio to enjoy my tea. It was barely light enough to see what I was writing in my journal. The morning was warm, quiet and peaceful. As the sun came up, I began to admire the wonderful colors of the flowers in my garden. This morning they seemed more vibrant and alive. The plants were so vivid, like they were somehow more than 3-dimensional.

I had been writing about my transition from stressful living to peaceful living. It occurred to me that now I am living more like a flower. Flowers don't stress themselves out with questions like "Where should I grow? What if no one waters me? What if my color isn't bright enough, or I'm not the right shade? What if I'm not beautiful enough? What if the other flowers bloom before I do? How will I live up to their example?" They just grow because that is what they are supposed to do. They are all beautiful. Some are larger than others and some are brighter, but they don't seem to mind. They know they are all beautiful and necessary. When they are mixed together, it creates an amazing bouquet.

I realized that they don't try to be better than the other flowers. They don't compete with each other, they aren't jealous of each other, they don't talk about each other behind their backs and they don't gossip. They don't look at another flower and say "Wow, look at that one, I wish I was more like her." They just accept themselves just the way they are and do what they are supposed to do. Maybe that is why they all bloom effortlessly and are so beautiful.

I've decided to follow that example with my circle of women friends. Remembering to be in the natural flow of life. I suppose a person who lives that way would be called a flow-er, someone who goes with the flow. Funny that flower is spelled the same way but I'd never made the connection before now. Imagine what a beautiful bouquet we will make if we all learn to live like flowers.