I’m linking up with Emily P. Freeman and the What We Learned community to share what we learned this winter.

Photo: Secret Garden by Pexels

Ahh, my favorite season of the year. NOT! I am so ready for Winter to be over! I am beginning to see hints of buds on tree and bushes, as I write this, and that makes me pretty excited.  All that being said, I learned something this winter.

There are many different types of flowers in the world.  Yes, I know, mind blowing right?  But think about it: there are the kind that need next to nothing to bloom (cactus flowers in an arid desert, dandelions between concrete cracks).  There are the kind that need a little bit of care and then, once cut, with a little water stay pretty forever (carnations and daisies). There are roses and hydrangeas.  With care they will bloom beautifully but once cut, don’t last long at all. Finally, there are orchids.  Ah, the orchids. I have killed about 5 of these gorgeous flowers. They required very distinctive care: 3 ice cubes, not too close to the window but close enough to get enough light but only if the temperature is right.  Just the right mix of humidity: not to dry but not to wet.  Not really dirt but some special dirt and moss blend – the list is endless. And move them an inch in the wrong direction and they are doomed.

People are just like that.  Some of us, through our DNA and/or life circumstances and our sheer will, have been equipped to bloom through the concrete.  I say us, but I don’t mean us, in the literal sense.  I am not one of those; I am an orchid.  I need just the right mix to bloom at all and then only for short periods at a time.

What does my mix look like? I have been working on that this winter.  A morning reading, followed by a half hour of journaling.  Meditation and prayer is next.  A podcast is good also and I have been diving into back episodes of Emily’s The Next Right Thing. Then a morning run tops it off nicely. To keep up with this extensive morning routine, I require a bedtime no later than 10 PM.  And all of this just to get a good start to the day.

I lamented my neediness for years! Why did I required all of these things? There must be something wrong with me? Why was I such a pansy? Which, by the way, isn’t an accurate cliché seeing that pansies can survive temperatures below 32 degrees. Then I realized and now I get (with the help of friends and the Hubby) that the orchid doesn’t wish it was a dandelion.  It doesn’t look at all of its requirements, fights against the grain, threatening not to bloom. It is what it is – an orchid – and it needs what it needs for it to offer it’s best to the world.

We are the same way.  We are what we are and we need what we need to be our best for our world.  Now I get it. I’m an orchid and now it’s time for me to get ready to go to sleep.

What do you need?

enjoy life…