Today I Give Thanks for Winter Flowers

 

Today I give thanks for winter flowers. 

 

There it was.  Right there on the patio.  In a pot of hibiscus that I mistakenly thought was just about dead.  Suddenly this morning, a bright red hibiscus was blooming on the end of a branch that had somehow come back alive and vibrant again.  Big and showy with true pizazz and attitude!  It nearly shouted, “Look at me!  I’m still here – and I’m absolutely gorgeous!

 

All of us are getting older.  Wiser, yes.  But older all the same.  And whenever we feel the ticking of the clock in our bones, it’s easy to question the past – our choices, our careers, our relationships, indeed, sometimes our entire lives.  Those of us who are truly old in years and decades may even ask ourselves, “What in the heck am I still doing here anyway?” 

 

Can we, like the nearly dead hibiscus, have another flowering?  Another time for doing good in this world?  And, if so, how do we get started?  Do we have to go out and get a job or volunteer every day of the week?  Must we become saints?

 

OK, let’s not get ahead of ourselves here.  No self-help books or podcasts.  We can start by heeding the words of meditation teacher Joseph Goldstein, who described just two things that have made the biggest difference in his own life:  Reflecting immediately on which actions made him feel better or worse, and then discovering that acting generously in the moment made him feel best.    (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_oMC_h4xCw)

 

Simply put, Goldstein does his best to act immediately on generous impulses when they arise.  He’s not trying to be a better person or a nicer person; instead, he’s doing what makes him feel best.  Most of us are nice people, and these generous impulses arise naturally.  Usually, however, we think we will do them later - right after we finish these twelve other things.  How difficult would it be to turn this feeling into behavior right away and simply follow through immediately on our generous impulses?

 

I’ll be trying this over the next couple of months and will let you know how it goes.  As Kate Bowler reminded us in her newsletter (katebowler.com):  Sometimes, trying is just surviving with style.  What better way to “survive with style” than to act on generous impulses?

 

Today I give thanks for winter flowers that show us that we, like plants, can survive with style!