Beauty All Around

Beauty All Around--

Thistle, Queen Ann's Lace, Chickory.  These are but a few of the beautiful wildflowers growing in the ditchbank beside our mailbox.  Delicate white flowers on tall slender stems beckon butterflys to come feast.  That would be Queen Ann's Lace.  Placed in a jar or bottle they provide beauty on a table.

Thistle shares its beauty in a different way.  It lets you know that you will have to use caution when getting too close.  The tall, slender barbs that protect the purple flower mean business.  Standing beside Queen Ann's Lace, it provides quite the contrast.  It has strength.  Bees often cover Thistle thus ensuring their future.

Chickory has a lovely light blue flower on several stems.  It truly looks like a weed.  It grows in the worst soil.  Often right beside the road.  It is much shorter than the others mentioned.  The root of the Chickory can be boiled for tea.  These three growing together are an absolute delight.

Many other smaller plants grow alongside these.  Altogether they make a beautiful combination of colors, heights and textures.  Some have flowers.  Some don't.  The interesting thing is they all seem to fit perfectly together.  Each takes up just enough space to grow.  Each comes to maturity in its own time.

Many years ago my dad shared with me that he was seeing all the wildflowers for the first time.  During  all his working years he never looked right or left.  He was too busy making a living.  Up early to work the fields or drive off to his job, his mind was on providing for the family.  There was no time to look at wildflowers.  Often they were mowed down, anyway.  They were weeds.  Who wants weeds?

After he retired, he saw them for the first time.  All those years they had shared their beauty, but he never noticed.  He said he was so surprised at the beauty they gave away to the world.  He shared that he wished he had taken the time to look instead of driving by on his way to somewhere else.  Oh-such lessons from those thoughts.

Camera in hand, I stood in the ditch beside all the gifts of nature and snapped pictures.  Their life is short so I needed to have a reminder of what will return again next year.  Besides, I may use the pictures in my next book.

Truly seeing takes effort.  Racing along a highway with eyes straight ahead-which is probably where they should be-gets us where we are headed.  We are all on a journey from here to there.  But, what if we decided to take a less traveled road?  What if we took our time on a journey from here to there?  What if we even stopped our car, got out and walked beside the road?  What might we see?  What might we feel?  What might we experience?  Just the simple act of slowing down has the power to free our spirits.

Many wildflowers grow in our gardens.  Spring Beauty, Bluebells, Jack in the Pulpit, Bleeding Heart, Trout Lily, Shooting Stars, Trilium, Lily of the Valley to name a few.  If we are not watchful, some of them will disappear before we notice their arrival.  This spring I taught our youngest grandson how to enjoy the sweet taste of the Bluebell.  After that lesson, he feasted on them!  Well, not really feasted because the tiny amount of sweet is just right for bees but not for boys.

Yes, I know that life is busy.  I understand that time is limited.  I realize that people go in circles these days.  However, I would like to offer a simple plan.  One that is free for all the family.  It is this.  Set aside thirty minutes to look at nature.  Maybe you could identify trees by their leaves.  Or walk along a ditchbank and talk about colors and textures.  Introduce new words such as delicate or bristly.  Pick up rocks and examine their color, shape and weight.  How are they alike or different?

I think when we spend time in nature, we grow to appreciate this world and all the people in it.  We truly see what surrounds us yet never insists we visit.  We realize that we are only one small part of a very large space.  And we are awed with the wonder of it all.