Inspiring Quote — Day 3 AprilLove2018

To say that Minnesotans are tired of winter is an understatement. It’s been a long cold winter with more than enough snow. But despite everyone’s deep desire for springtime greens and warmer weather, snowy cold days continue.

No mud No lotus

My inspiring quote for today’s photo challenge in #AprilLove2018 is “No mud No lotus,” the title of a book written by meditation teacher Thich Nhat Hanh.

I need this quote today as snow falls in Minneapolis, Minnesota where I live, on this third day of April.

“Most people are afraid of suffering. But suffering is a kind of mud to help the lotus flower of happiness grow. There can be no lotus flower without the mud.”
― Thich Nhat Hanh, No Mud, No Lotus: The Art of Transforming Suffering

My dad was a farmer who raised cattle, hogs, and chickens as well as corn, soybeans, oats, and hay. When I was growing up and we (my brothers and I) complained about having to scoop manure out of the animal stalls and buildings he used to say, “Manure is money in the bank,” meaning that the manure fertilized the crops that brought him prosperity as a farmer. I learned a lot of life lessons about cycles of life growing up on a farm. The one about manure always makes me smile as I remember my Dad.

The weather we’re having right now in Minnesota is a kind of manure. It stinks right now, but will yield great beauty in time because of the effects of the cold and moisture.

There is no life without suffering but suffering can help us grow and become who we are meant to be.

May you walk in beauty.

#AprilLove2018Day3

Note: The photo above is a composite photograph created with a photograph of icicles that I can see outside my kitchen window today while new snow falls, and some lotus flower photographs from past photographs I made at the Como Park Conservatory.