A Year of Gratitude – July 19, 2024

I found my gratitude in a flower that looks unlike any other in our garden. This is Liatris, a beautiful purple perennial in bloom in our gardens this time of year.

It doesn’t look like any of our other plants. It’s nestled in among lilies, balloon flowers, and catmint in the garden bed right outside our mud room door. It’s a mound of tall, slender stems covered in hairy foliage and wispy purple blooms.

It looks like something out of a Dr. Suess book. It makes me smile to watch it sway in the afternoon breeze. The pollinators love it. They flit about from stem to stem, although they rarely stay in one place long enough for me to take a photo of them although I do try. Every so often I get one at just the right moment.

Liatris always stands out to me because it is so unique. It doesn’t have the traditional flower shape. It doesn’t have wide, showy blooms. Yet it stands tall, it doesn’t try to fit in. It was built to stand out.

I don’t always like to be noticed, to be seen in a crowd. I tend to prefer to be unseen and unnoticed. Perhaps I should learn something from liatris whose bright and unique blooms can’t be ignored.

I’ll try to just be who I am, to be at peace with that. I don’t need to be like everyone else around me. I just have to stand tall and be less uncomfortable doing so. It won’t be easy, but I’ll try and hope that with practice, it will get easier.

#gratitude #grateful #thankful #thankfulness #mindful #mindfulness #selfacceptance #selflove #nature #summer #garden #farm #flower #liatris # #morning

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.