As I prepare for the coming spring, I’m reminded how much friends and flowers have in common. I very much love my garden. One could say I never grew out of playing in the dirt. Growing flowers are one of my favorite parts of gardening, no surprise there.
So, as I was working with my flowers here are my thoughts.
What Friends and Flowers Have In Common
Flowers come in all sizes, shapes, colors and temperaments. There are annuals, succulents, perennials, flowering bushes, and trees. The variety is endless. Some are fragile requiring great care where some are thorny, not very fussy and prefer less attention. No matter what their temperament, with proper care, flowers can give you much beauty and pleasure. I find that even though they are fragile they are surprisingly resilient when we give them the proper nurturing they require. The better the care we give, the greater the reward.
The same thing applies to our friends. The comparisons are undeniable: annuals just live for a short time or a season. Perennials, however, with care, will return every year with amazing regularity and beauty. Bushes and trees are sturdier and will never go away or fail to give us a beautiful display in their season.
Our friends have many of these same characteristics. Some are only here for a short time or season, where some are constant and will always be there, for a lifetime or for as long as God allows. Friends require the same care we would give our gardens. Sometimes a flower or plant just doesn’t survive. It may be because of something we did or didn’t do; nonetheless we learn from our mistakes. However, there are times, despite all our efforts, a plant or flower just fails for no apparent reason. It just was not meant to be. Some budding friendships are the same way. No matter what we do they just don’t make it for many, many reasons. Plainly, they just weren’t meant to be our friend much as the flowers choose not to survive in our garden, and that’s ok. The fact is friends, just like flowers, come in and out of our lives with great regularity. Some take a little longer to cultivate but last for a very long time. Some become life-long friendships that can withstand difficult times, while others have a short season and move on. Sadly some of our friends leave this world and us way before their time.
Our friends are a precious gift who help lift our spirits when times are tough. They are ever kind and forgiving when we make mistakes. Often our friends we tell us a truth that we need to hear when no one else will. Our path in life would not be complete without our friends as companions.
Regrettably, there is always something that seems to get in the way or prevents us from setting time aside to enjoy our friends and the gifts they bring. Nevertheless we greatly enjoy our friends in whatever time we’re able to spend with them, or for however long they’re with us. The world would be a very lonely and colorless place without them.
We never go into a relationship with the thought that it is temporary (at least I don’t), so the eternal optimist in me sincerely believes that any friend, new or old, like my flowers, will be there for a very long time. If we are unfortunate to have lost a friend from an illness or tragic event, it reminds us all to take advantage of the time we have because we just never know when that won’t be the case. The way I see it, is we need to make the most of the ones who are in our lives every moment. The richness of all the experiences each friend or relationship brings, no matter the length, are so critical and worth the time. All our friends or relationships make life interesting, fun and ease the journey, at times offering valuable lessons or needed guidance, when we’re trying to find our way. We do much the same for them in return. In the end if one moves on, as is a natural part of life, regardless of the reason, then we will still have great memories of the time we spent with each other.
Much like my garden, the rewards of nurturing a relationship of any kind are well worth the effort with the rewards going both ways. A garden is never finished and always involving much like my blog, Finding Our Way Now, that’s the beauty of it. Relationships or friendships of any kind are much the same. There is a season for everything and everything a season including relationships and friendships.
You’re probably wondering what this is all about, aren’t you? With the advent of my blog anniversary, it has been a time of reflection for me. My musing is about taking the time in the garden of our friends. The point is to find a way to enjoy each of our friends as often as we can in our life’s journey.
How about you, do you make time for your friends? Have you lost a friend and mourn that loss? Do you struggle with finding time to nurture your friendships as I do?
Life’s journey continues…
If you enjoyed this story/muse check out No One Was Watching, An Assumption, A Dog & A Rabbit and A Father’s Advise.
P.S. Take a moment to check out and purchase some of the tools I use in my garden below. 🙂