A Year of Gratitude – June 30, 2024

I found my gratitude in a zinnia today. I have been watching this flower closely, waiting to see it bloom. Today, I got to see that.

This is the first zinnia bloom of the season in our garden. Zinnias are special to us. They remind us of a loved one that is no longer with us but is always in our hearts. Zinnias were their favorite flower, so having them in our garden is a lovely way to remember them.

This bloom has been emerging for about a week now. What was a tightly held bud became the first glimpse of the flower it had been holding. A few days ago, the petals began to unfurl, but they were still taking their time to fully open up and become their own part of the bloom.

When I walked outside to do my morning round of farm chores, I caught the bright color of these petals out of the corner of my eye. I knew based on the first glance that the petals had opened. I couldn’t wait to take a closer look.

They were wet from overnight rain. They had a lacquered look to them from the moisture. I was so taken by the contrast of the bright yellow in the center of the bloom set against the bold fuchsia petals and bright green foliage.

I grabbed my phone to take a few photos. As I was looking through the lens of the camera, I noticed what my eye had not seen. The petals weren’t perfect.

They weren’t perfect in shape. Several of them were misshapen. A few had rough edges where there should have been smooth, rounded ones.

Yet it was strikingly beautiful. It was also a reminder that even beautiful things are imperfect and imperfect things are beautiful. That doesn’t just apply to flowers in the garden.

It also applies to the people in our lives. Their imperfections can be the very same traits that make them beautiful in our eyes. Knowing someone well enough to see their imperfections and truly see them as beautiful is a choice. You have to make it. Otherwise, you only see the jagged edges, the little things that aren’t perfect.

You can look at this flower and see something amazing or you can see the flaws. You can look at people and do the same. It’s your choice to make.

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.