In the deep dark days of winter, some of us feel a stirring, a need. A yearning, that has surpassed the ladder of want, and fallen right into a large pot of need.
I am not talking about chocolate, although I am sure that some of us feel the same way about it. But a feeling that touches your very being, deep inside of you. The requirement to feel, smell, and touch something that grows.
Specifically flowers.
It could be as simple as a small potted daffodil, or a bunch of cut carnations, but there is a good percentage of our population that counts flowers as one of life’s most necessary elements.
It may seem silly to be writing about such a trivial thing, when there are so many bad things happening in the world right now.
But on some level, I think that the flowers give us hope, renew our spirit, and make us realize how incredibly grateful we should be.
And maybe grateful, and aware people can do a little more, for those that have so much less than we do.
A thankful heart can afford to give much and in return be filled again. We take for granted our everyday lives sometimes until we see what others are going through.
ReplyDeleteFlowers and growing things always bring hope and peace to me too. Chocolate! I never saw a chocolate I didn't like. LOL!
What beautiful pictures today Jen. There are many suffering but when we stop to consider that God unfolds the flowers, and cares for the birds, etc., we are reminded that there is HOPE!
ReplyDeleteThanks for a beautiful post today.
What lovely flowers, and interesting thoughts. I've asked myself before if it's need or want for color when I buy bouquets or potted plants in the deep winter... you're right, Beauty is almost like food for some of us. :)
ReplyDeleteDear Jen, Your posting at this particular time, when so many people are suffering such appalling deprivations, is sensitively presented and gives one great food for thought. I agree with you entirely that living things do indeed renew our spirits.
ReplyDeleteSometimes the smallest things mean the most. These are gorgeous pictures.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely flowers give us hope. I brought two African violets home last night because I needed them, and my hyacinths have started to bloom. They bring me comfort in the midst of the horrors in Haiti and elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteI buy a lot of cut flowers in the late fall through early spring and place them where I see them often in my house. I definitely have a need to be surrounding by something beautiful and living!
ReplyDeleteJen, Do you know the song "Bread and Roses"? It includes the lyric, "Hearts starve as well as bodies; give us bread, but give us roses too." -Jean
ReplyDeleteSuch a lovely post! I love flowers and Spring for that reason! Every winter I feel like I can't take much more of the cold and gray, and just in time, I see the new green poking thru the dirt in the gardens!
ReplyDeleteI truly believe it is a need for me. All we have seen is rain lately.
ReplyDeleteI am definitely in need of green spaces and beautiful blossoms this time of year. They do offer some kind of soothing pleasure from what can be a tough, tough world.
ReplyDeleteI also delight in giving them to people. Flowers make us smile. :-)
Sometimes we need to walk through a garden centre to rejuvenate ourselves. That promise of spring.
ReplyDeleteI have to laugh, Jen.
ReplyDeleteHow many times have I been plant shopping with a friend and uttered that sentence? A need or a want? Hmm... need. Definitely.
The way I look at it, God could have made us color blind or created strictly gray flowers. I believe we're hard-wired [perhaps some of us a wee bit more than others] to feel revived by communion with nature.
As usual, your photographs WOW me.
Hope is the grey moth, squished in the bottom of Pandoras box. It was the last think to fly out after all the nasty creatures, pain, anger, jealously etc.
ReplyDeleteSometimes hope is all we have to get us through the day. Flowers certainly make it brighter.
Jen,
ReplyDeleteI would certainly agree that plants and flowers fall in the "need" category. I think because they invite one to pause, reflect, and appreciate. They bring me hope, lift my mood, and have the ability to lift my heavy heart.
Gorgeous photos. Whatever gives us hope and makes us better is a positive thing, I believe.
ReplyDeletelovely flowers. I'm anxiously awaiting the blooms on my Amaryllis -- any day now.
ReplyDeleteI'm definitely one of those people who NEEDS flowers around me, particularly during the winter months. I have some pretty purple flowers smiling at me on my kitchen counter and I can't help but smile back.
ReplyDeleteI need to take some photos of some plants..my eyes are seeking the green of spring time..I love the southern blogs this time of year:)
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