Summer has always been my favorite season, and roses, my favorite flower. It is hard to choose a favorite flower because there are so many beautiful varieties to select from. Roses seem to usher in the summer season with their unmistakable bliss; the scent of a rose in the fresh morning air is incredible, and a rose garden is a place of joy. Summer is just around the corner, and already the roses are blooming in profusion.
This past Mother’s Day was a very special one for me. I spent the day with my husband, children, and grandchildren, at the Botanical Gardens, in Norfolk, Virginia. The weather was lovely, and the gardens were enchanting. It was the sort of day that you never want to end. At one point on our journey through the gardens, my daughter in law, Elicia, asked us to step inside the ‘room’ beneath the huge Magnolia tree. It was awesome! It was the perfect place to catch your breath and gather your thoughts.
It happens that when we find a moment such as this all to ourselves, we remember that life is not all about ‘doing’. It is not all about what we must accomplish in a given space of time. Sometimes, life is simply about being present in the moment, being still, acknowledging the wonder of the universe around us. Even there in this room beneath the Magnolia tree, a little universe exists…a place where the sky is etched between the tree limbs, and the carpet is thick with fallen, faded, Magnolia leaves. And, if you are very quiet, you will hear the wind whispering softly amidst the leaves each time there is a gentle gust. It is a whisper of profound peace, the sigh of an ancient tree, a time to embrace the present hour of flickering light and dreams that flutter within your soul.
Standing there beneath the Magnolia tree, I decided that this was the summer I would create a rose garden in my own yard, a quiet place to simply ‘be’. In the quietude of those outstretched limbs, and the canopy of green, I was able to dream my garden dream, envision a sanctuary of roses blooming in the summer sun, fragrant and lovely in every way. I already have a couple of bushes…why not add a few more? Over time, the rose garden will grow…
It might not be the spectacular rose garden you would find on the pages of a home and garden magazine, but each rose bush is a a thing of beauty. A garden begins in the imagination of the gardener, and every garden bears the signature of the gardener. A garden is really a thing of the heart, be it pots of flowers on a porch, or snap peas growing up a trellis.
We cannot change the world or remedy every ill or problem overnight. We can however, strive to be our very best, and do our part to make the world a better place. We can do one thing more…we can plant a rose bush and create joy in our own back yard. We can plant seeds of hope to help others who might be struggling.
It is not the size of our gardens that matter in life. It is choosing to find those ‘rooms’ that help us to see the beauty in life. It is choosing to focus on those sun-lit places that restore us when we are weary. Rest assure, we will grow weary; we will need to find refuge, whether it is a walk beside the ocean, or a garden bench where we can simply rest.
The important part is to pause and reflect on the wonder of it all…life is indeed, a beautiful thing! And, the more often we stop and notice the little ‘rooms’ of joy all around us, the happier we will be. No, we cannot fix all the wrongs, or make the world a perfect place. But, if we give ourselves ‘room to grow’, like the magnificent Magnolia trees, and the exquisite roses, we too, will open beautifully in the light.
John 8:12: “Again, Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
How very well said, “It is not the size of our gardens that matter in life. It is choosing to find those ‘rooms’ that help us to see the beauty….” I think we forget to pause, to reflect, to enjoy moments because there is so much in life we want to experience. I have come back to meditation and found that even a few minutes a day gives energy and focus. A lovely day to spend in the garden with your family.
Those few moments spent in meditation are so important. We can’t ‘give back’ if we feel depleted ourselves. It was a lovely day in the gardens…:)
My husband and I were married in the Rose Garden at the Norfolk Botanical Garden, with my dad officiating. Such good memories evoked by your lyrical post.
I have been to a wedding at the Botanical Gardens! It is a magical place! How wonderful that your wedding took place there and with your father officiating! The years come and go, but our memories are forever young.
Yes, the certainly are.
🙂 🙂 🙂
Linda, you painted such a clear word picture that I felt like I was standing under the Magnolia tree, enjoying the whisper of the wind and lovely scent of the trees blossoms. We have several neighbors with towering magnolias and they are a favorite hiding spot for our neighborhood bunnies. You gave such sage advice, “It is not the size of our gardens that matter in life. It is choosing to find those ‘rooms’ that help us to see the beauty in life. It is choosing to focus on those sun-lit places that restore us when we are weary.” Too often I don’t feel like I can step into that beautiful space to “breath and simply be” until everything on my “to-do” list is done, yet it is during the rush of getting all the days boxes checked that I most need to step into that place and focus on being present, focus on Jesus and what He wants me to accomplish in the day.
Time is a funny thing. Sometimes, when we give ourselves a little break, the rest of our day goes better. I often struggle with the same issues as you do; I tell myself that when everything is done, then, I can rest. The only problem is that by the end of the day, new things crop up that need to be done! When my four children were little and took naps, people often told me that I should nap when they napped. I never did that. I always tried to do a hundred things before they woke up. I would make a cup of tea at long last, and then they promptly woke up from naptime! 🙂 The years have taught me that it is often in the ‘pause’ that I am most deeply aware. Jesus does understand our need for rest; He is the best listener and understands our hearts so well.
My husband and his mother used to give me the same advice too but I could never rest or nap when the kids did – and my kids just couldn’t sleep or be still even a wee bit like other people’s babies! My mother-in-law once asked how on earth could my husband and I expect our children to sleep longer when we ourselves couldn’t sit still – ooooh, how right she was!
We still don’t have that great a garden but now at least it shows that we have learned to still ourselves enough to devote some time to it 😀
It has taken me a very long time to learn that ‘good enough’ is ‘good enough’. My daughter gave me a book to that effect when she was in high school…she thought I was overdoing it with the house and yard work.:) It was called, “Mary Ellen’s Guide to Good Enough Housekeeping”. (You cultivate a routine and break it down to the basics. That’s it. You don’t have to complicate the matter by doing more than you have to do.) This is true of so many things in life…do your best, get the job done, and then move on to that walk on the beach. 🙂 The important thing is that you make the time to get to the beach…
I absolutely loved that.
We learn much from our children! They know us so well, and often see things we don’t see. (We teach them many things, but in the end, they wind up teaching us also!)
It is so comforting to read this post. It has everything any weary, searching heart needs. I’ve read so many of your posts since I found you. Often, the words just reach out and catch me. Some times, I just know something is there but a heart weighed down by cares remains locked to any wisdom. But because you write with love, that love pursues, even locked doors somehow open to your words. What was misted becomes clear.
How often you’ve written about roses and gardens, about doing what we can and not worrying if it was big enough for the world. Each time you wrote, it was like a true mother’s love, willing me to make changes in order to live, always gentle and hopeful. Finally, with me it has borne fruit. A little bit of everything in a day lived in balance is the way for me to live. If I have crammed too much in some hours, then the next hour must bring rest and slowing down. If I’ve been sluggish, then the next hour must bring healing work.
I hope you reach more people, Linda.
Many of your posts have touched my heart as well…it seems in the blogging world we do find kindred spirits. I often read a post, and it is the exact thing I needed to hear. As the saying goes, ‘God does work in mysterious ways’. I love to work in the garden, and I find it to be a labor of love. At the same time, too much of any good thing can be a bad thing. My gardens are more the cottage style type…nothing too manicured, a little of this, and a little of that. 🙂
Linda, this is so lovely. Thank you for your reminder. I love roses, but peonies are my #1. Then roses and then lilacs because I miss them. We can’t have lilacs or peonies in Arizona.
I planted my first Peony this year! I bought one with yellow flowers…I love Lilacs, but they do not well in Virginia. We have Crepe Myrtle trees in Virginia, and they are beautiful also! 🙂
Enjoy!!!!! I think we had Crepe Myrtle in Michigan, too, but I need to look it up!
I lived in South Carolina for a number of years. I always looked forward to the Crepe Myrtle trees in bloom. Each flowering tree has its own beauty…
Just realized we not only had one in Michigan, but also a purple one in California.
🙂 🙂 🙂
So happy to hear that you had a wonderful mother’s day and you spend it with your family and in nature. Also, you have beautiful roses in your garden! In the past, I was not paying so much attention to the garden. But recently, it is such a joy to look at the trees/bushes that I planted since they were tiny and see them blossom.
It is a wonderful thing if you stay in one place, and get to see all the changes over the years. We planted some Magnolia trees when they were tiny! They are huge now!!! 🙂
Beautiful!! I can almost smell the roses! How I love gardens and gardening. For this season of my life, it is a container garden on my balcony, and after all the rain we’ve had, the pots are full of lush herbs and flowers. Sitting out there is like sitting in a garden. For now it suffices, but I continue to dream of my next garden which will be large and plentiful!
I think a garden can be anything you want it to be. My sister has her whole deck full of plants; it is so relaxing to just sit out there and enjoy the greenery. I think it is more about creating a quiet space than anything else. In my kitchen, I have some green ivy that I am trying to cultivate over my windows; slowly, it is making its way in the direction I want it to go. It does not matter all that much…I just love that climbing vine in the kitchen! 🙂
What a delightful Mother’s Day, so glad you could all be together! The delicate colours in that vase are awesome, and it is good to create our own ‘chill’ space
Yes! We all need a little space to ourselves! 🙂 In the winter, I still have some house plants and an orange tree that we bring in from outside. On a January day, that little orange tree is such a thing of joy!
how delightful!
🙂 🙂 🙂
Great thoughts Linda. it’s amazing how one’s solitude place, garden, ends up influencing those around as it changes those with a garden.
The quietude of a garden is amazing! There are also lots of surprises…I have some ‘accidental pumpkins’ growing where I left my pumpkin sitting last autumn. 🙂 I think God likes to surprise us with many happy little things like that in our garden of life. From seemingly out of nowhere, something wonderful happens, something we never could have planned. (Those pumpkins might do better than something I actually planted.) And that is the mystery of our faith…God is always busy planting seeds. The rains come and the sun shines. God’s little seedlings flourish.
I can smell those roses from here! Ahhhhhhh.
We have had some heavy rain…the grass is greener, but the roses are looking a bit wilted! After a few days of sunshine, they should perk up again. 🙂
What a lovely idea and a lovely post! You’re right about planting our own rose garden…or whatever our little personal space may be….and also about doing out best to plant seeds of hope in others (you’re very good at that!). No, we can’t fix all the problems in the world, but if each of us did our part to make our own little corner of the world a better place: just think of all that could happen!
I do believe that every little seed of hope counts. We never really know in life what someone else may be going through. And, in order to keep planting good things in our own corner of the world, we must take care of ourselves as well. (Everyone needs a dose of sunshine, and a breath of fresh air!)