Just a couple days ago, I shared the newborn spring buds on our red dogwood tree. What a difference a day (or two) makes! Already, the tree is in full bloom. Blossoming seems to be contagious; a couple buds open up early and it looks so wonderful, the others just can’t wait to follow suit.
Come to think of it, blossoming can be contagious for us budding humans, too. Have you ever had the privelege to watch a friend or colleague rise up, realize a dream, expand his or her horizons? It’s a pretty wonderful thing to watch – and it’s nearly impossible not to be inspired. Of course, sometimes we allow ego and its accompanying self-consciousness to mess with our minds and make us do kinda crazy things – complain, gossip, get jealous, even mope around because somebody else has more than us.
But when we open up our hearts really wide and are able to celebrate a friend’s great accomplishment or a colleague’s promotion or a relative’s windfall, there’s a little stirring inside letting us know there is, indeed, something more out there for us, too. Their progress motivates us to look closer at our own lives, and prioritize our own dreams.
The little buds on a tree never worry about how or when they’ll bloom; they wait there quietly on the branch, inspired by the buds blooming around them. They soak up the water, bask in the sun, embrace every sign of growth, and trust the timing. And then, one morning, they wake up to find they have almost effortlessly become a beautiful flower, too, as well as the inspiration for tomorrow’s buds.
Is today your day to bloom?
