Shine

originally sent in newsletter August 2018

I am not known in my circle for my green thumb.

Although I love and need the nourishment of deep Nature, I am smack in the heart of the concrete jungle of Philadelphia, learning to be grateful for the small stretch of plantable dirt that we have in our backyard. Along with herb and medicinal plants, I bought my first sunflower seeds this summer, wanting to bring some color into my sonʻs world.

They popped through the dirt pretty quickly - the sunflowers; I thought. I had the same excitement and wonder from childhood, witnessing the sprout popping through: “It works!” Nature doesnʻt cease to amaze, even while we are too busy to see.

We went to visit family at the beach for a week, during which there was a huge windstorm back in Philadelphia. Of the three previously impressive stalks, one had broken, and one was bending. In my rash disappointment, I clipped the bending one off, and regretted it immediately. Only one remained.

I ran into the house – yes, ran – and started to explain to Corey (my partner) that there was a sunflower emergency and that I couldnʻt grow anything, and, and, and...

He listened and quietly slipped away. He returned with a stake, tape and a broom handle.

“A broom handle?”

“Yes, a broom, handle."

“A broom handle?” I repeated.

“Listen, if that sunflower goes down – you will go down too, and that canʻt happen.”

I was surprised by his words, mostly because he was right. I had been exceptionally invested in the sunflower, checking Her daily, watering Her, talking about Her, peeking in on Her at night.

Honestly, I figured it would fail. I think that is why I broke that stalk off.

After the broom handle operation, all I could do was wait.

A less windy rain storm came. Where the wind had broken Her one stalk, She now had two flowerheads sprouting. The broom-handle-fortified stalk now had a tightly fisted, fractaled head full of promise and vibrancy.

I was mesmerized, and waited now with hopeful anticipation. I talked to Her, sharing our expectation for and with Her.
​
On a Sunday morning, She did it.
She opened.

She was the most radiant sunflower I had ever seen.
I told Her so. I marveled at her determination, her allowance of her genetic and divine brilliance.

We continued to water Her and talk to Her. Aaron and I inspected her petals and watched as She would turn ever so slightly to better face the sun.

One day, on her center sat a honeybee. In the midst of the city, in a small row of dirt, surrounded by concrete, weathering a storm that took all others down, She fed another.

"Follow diligently the Way in your own heart, but make no display of it to the world. Keep behind, and you shall be put in front; keep out, and you shall be kept in. (S)He that humbles himself shall be preserved entire. (S)He that bends shall be made straight. (S)He that is empty shall be filled. (S)He that is worn out shall be renewed." –Lao-Tzu

I was awestruck.
She looked right at me and shared one word: Shine.

If She could do it, I thought, so can I.
And so can you.


Shine On friend.
Itʻs what you are here for.
Kate