Opulent Orchids

Yesterday I visited the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum for some flower therapy. I spent time in the Meyer-Deats Conservatory which was filled with

Such beauty! And I had the little conservatory all to myself so that I could dawdle as long as I wanted to making photographs. I must have spent close to an hour there before heading outside for a walk.

I am feeling almost back to normal after a 10-day sojourn of not feeling well.

And I cant’ tell you how wonderful it is to be able to eat normal food again! And to be able to walk without pain! Even doing chores around the house brings me joy.

So to be able to take myself and my camera out for a walk today when the temperatures were warming the world was beyond joyous!

Though I often wish that I did not face the health challenges that I often face, one blessing they have brought me is appreciation and gratitude for small mercies and the grace of ordinary life.

There are other blessings from these challenges as well, too numerous to count. I would not be the person I am today had I not faced the challenges I faced.

Do you find that you also have discovered blessings in your challenges, whatever they are?

Here’s a blessing for you…

Today I leave you with a blessing from one of my favorite writers, John O’Donohue…

For Equilibrium, a Blessing:
Like the joy of the sea coming home to shore,
May the relief of laughter rinse through your soul.

As the wind loves to call things to dance,
May your gravity by lightened by grace.

Like the dignity of moonlight restoring the earth,
May your thoughts incline with reverence and respect.

As water takes whatever shape it is in,
So free may you be about who you become.

As silence smiles on the other side of what’s said,
May your sense of irony bring perspective.

As time remains free of all that it frames,
May your mind stay clear of all it names.

May your prayer of listening deepen enough
to hear in the depths the laughter of god.
― John O’Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings