Sunday Morning Quote

 “Connection with gardens, even small ones, even potted plants, can
become windows to the inner life. The simple act of stopping and
looking at the beauty around us can be prayer.”
– Patricia R. Barrett, The Sacred Garden

Imagine a big red stop sign posted at the entrance to your yard.
The stop sign warns us to look for what may be around the corner.

Now look closely as you round that corner of your yard…….stop and look. You might see things that you have stopped seeing because they have been in clear sight for so long.

Most of us have heard the the phrase “stop and smell the roses”. Perhaps that’s one of the unconscious reasons that we planted a climbing rose beside our front door. I mean, I DO stop most every day to smell these roses before I walk into the house. But something was nagging at me. Telling me that it wasn’t just the roses that had the stop sign beside them.

Then, a few days ago, I was taking pictures of our Graceful Bamboo. While doing so, I backed up and tripped on the edge of our Raised Bed Sunflower Garden. Past its prime, all that is left after we cut the stalks off are short, two foot sections, sticking out of the ground like sticks. As I turned to find better footing, I saw one lonely sunflower, struggling to survive on this cut-off stalk.

Far from being able to reach it’s full size, this one little flower struggled to bloom and become the last sunflower of this season. That little sunflower was MY stop sign on that particular day because the next day it was gone.

I am so glad that I had the presence of mind to remember this quote that day while photographing a completely different subject. I would have missed out on another one of nature’s daily blessings.

This morning, enjoy finding YOUR  stop sign.
Dave and Trish