A Year of Gratitude – May 15, 2024

I can always count on nature to give me a reason for gratitude. I hadn’t been outside long when I came upon these bleeding hearts. I shared them with you last week when they hadn’t fully come into bloom.

They are glorious right now. They are breathtaking in shape and color. This branch was particularly lovely set against the background of one of our old oak trees covered in bright green moss.

There’s something about a bleeding heart that captivates me. They are so incredibly unique. Each heart is so precisely shaped that it seems impossible for it to be a flower at all. Then you group them together in a row and they just astound me.

I remember my mom growing them in our garden when I was a little girl. I loved them then just as much as I do now. Again, I have my mom to thank for planting them in our garden. She has tended to them and they have flourished because of it.

They are so delicate, strung on tiny stems from a pliable branch. They just don’t seem strong enough to survive in nature. They seem too fragile. Yet they will be here until the heat of the summer becomes too much for them and then they will fade as the plant reserves its strength for survival, ensuring that it will be here again next spring to delight us with its blooms.

In so many ways, the garden is a lot like us. And these bleeding hearts are similar to the hearts of the people in our lives. If you tend to them, nurture them, and protect them, you will be rewarded with blooms and a season of beauty to enjoy. If you neglect them or treat them harshly, they may not have the strength to bloom. They may need to reserve all their strength for survival.

Sometimes we need a season to reserve our strength. When we do, there’s so much going on that no one else can see. We’re trying to strengthen our roots and find enough energy to put ourselves back into the world in spite of the painful experiences we have endured.

I can only hope that after that season of finding our strength that we will be rewarded with blooms that are extraordinary both in ourselves and in the garden. If this bleeding heart is any indication, our hard work and bravery will be rewarded with something beautiful to enjoy.

This post is part of our A Year of Gratitude Series. You can find the introduction, inspiration, and entire year’s gratitude’s posts here.