A Year of Gratitude – September 4, 2024

My gratitude was waiting for me in a spot I found gratitude in last week. Do you remember the zinnia bud I shared with you? It was daring to create a bloom late in the season, long past time that the other zinnias had bloomed.

Here it is just a few days later. It’s still a bud, but we can see a glimpse of the bloom it will become. The petals are lined up in a mostly orderly manner. They’re just biding their time, waiting to have the strength to open, waiting until they have had enough sunshine, water, and nourishment from the tall stem below.

When the time is right, those petals will begin to unfurl. The tight shape they are in will loosen just enough to allow the petals to reach outward and feel the sun on their surface for the very first time.

Yes, it is late in the season. So much of the garden is finished and beginning to get ready for a season of dormancy. But not this one. It hasn’t even begun to show us how brilliant it is.

Perhaps it wanted the spotlight all to itself, wanted to open and dazzle us with its bright color after the rest of the garden had started to lose its color, had begun to fade. Or maybe, just maybe, it needed a little extra time to be ready to bloom.

We all bloom when we’re ready. Some of us are among the first flowers to bloom in the garden of life. Some of us need more time. We’re not ready to open quite yet. We need the benefit of a bit of patience before we can gather up the strength and courage to show the world what we’ve got.

You can learn so much from nature if you pay attention to the lessons it holds in ordinary things. This little zinnia has taught me plenty over the past few weeks.

Whether you are the first to bloom or the last, let’s celebrate each other when we stand tall and reach our faces towards the sunshine. First or last, it’s beautiful when we do find the strength to open up and show the world who we are. And, as long as there is daylight left, it’s never too late to bloom.

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.