Did she know before we would what the world would need? Did she know the magnitude of darkness that would soon be? Perhaps it was a gesture as simple as what they mean; white roses in remembrance when someone departs, an honoring. But since something much bigger than us all orchestrates messages for us to heed; much more my beautiful bouquet has been trying to speak.
A representation of purity, of innocence, of light – as defined, the symbolic opposite of darkness – light.
I reread “Soft White Petals” and I reflect on this past week. Have I made my footprints on my life journey the best steps they can be?
I felt joy through each crunch of the fallen leaves, my exercise partner running beside me. My ears opening further in each trail we traveled through; ‘hearing’ how in endings there is promise of brand new. Five more months give or take before the barren trees bud and sprout green; certainty that the cycle of life will bring new beginnings.
I felt peace and tranquility as the blue heron flew beside me. Life had tapped loved ones on the shoulder with a health change of someone they hold dear; my focus on peace to counter any fears. My soul also in harmony from a wonderful weekend collecting on a birthday gift; an annual tradition to surprise each other with making memories together – me and my sis.
I felt gratitude for the Universe – it never leaves my side; countless answers to wishes time after time. “May our weekend travels be safe” and a Universal orchestration to ensure it would be; a detour for a missed turn revealed the purpose of our circling. Highly likely part of an accident if we had been earlier in arriving. And another example of a simple request that we would find a front row parking spot for the few minutes we would need; two empty spots front and center affirming the ‘simple’ is truly extraordinary.
I felt compassion and love for so many friends in pain, struggling to hold on to their hope and faith. Divisions growing wider, darkness and light at war. Anguish, anger, clamoring for footholds, all impacted to their very cores. Doing the only thing I know to do; trust in the purpose of what we go through. My own faith that in the devastation so many feel will be the catalyst for change the world needs; through their knowing, their deep understanding hate is not the answer, a new world they will influence to be. We learn best through opposites and only in the opposites can we end the cycles that need to break; hopelessness begets hope, hate begets love, dark begets light – each of us a choice we can make. Under the bodies we inhabit, as souls we are all the same; that we can all come to see that to the Universe a very deep wish I make.
I thought of holding on to the white roses, a keepsake I could preserve and keep safe. And then I thought about the giver of this beautiful bouquet. Though I learned some of her story, I only caught glimpses of her full life. Her age would suggest she had lived through a significant point in time. She lived during a time when the world was in a very dark place; when an immense judgement of an entire race. I do not know what she thought of that time or how it may have shaped her values and her views.
But I know that she surrounded herself and anyone who knew her with incredible beauty of many breathtaking hues. Her garden full of yellows, blues, greens, pinks, reds, and white. Flowers planted, colors blended together to create a stunning sight. The yellow of joy, the green of peace, hope, and healing. The pink of gratitude, the magenta of new beginnings. The white of light, the red of love, the blue of faith. Into this world she cast a very powerful array.
One by one as each rose reaches its final display, I will release each to continue its way. To flow with the creek downstream, on the currents of steadiness and strength. To flow into nooks and cracks and forks of whatever direction the creek takes. Perhaps a petal will glide by a stick that nothing else could pass by. That petal finding a tiny opening, a crack of light. In partnership with the petals are the leaves that have also let go; their sureness of upcoming rebirth as they also join the flow.
These beautiful petals are not meant to hide; into this source of life, the water will carry each petal of light.