Champagne flowers erupt- May blooms in April. Taking one blossom in isolation would make it insignificant. Small, fragile and vulnerable. En masse, they are astounding!
After a slow start Spring arrived in splendour today. Warm sunshine with a gentle breeze: it could hardly be improved on. These hawthorn and blackthorn bushes make a splendid sight. With a bright blue sky above, it was as if the “good weather” cumulus clouds had anchored themselves in the hedgerows.
This bush is proving to be a great meditation- there is meaning here if we will look hard enough to see…
An old hymn:
“Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God has done.
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.”
May blossom is a parable of gratitude. Every part of the bush is smothered in white; each one represents a kindness, a good deed, a victory over temptation. You can scarcely see the woody branches- that’s a symbol of the overflowingly generous forgiveness and grace of Jesus towards us.
If you push an unwary hand into the froth of petals, beware! There are sharp thorns covered and hidden. That reminds me that I am not yet perfect: even though I am covered in love, I can still be prickly and mean- I can and do hurt others, even the ones I love. That is why God is SO generous in forgiveness.
Would you like to reflect on this photo? What do you see, what touches your mind, what kind of response will you make?
Try this exercise again- perhaps in a garden or park, or a country lane… what inspires you to look, see, and pray?
The Reflectionary 