Flower Catching & Looking for the New After the Cutting

Sixty-five degrees and sunny. Bliss, after a long winter. A perfect spring day. Shared with my little flower catcher.

Faded blooms left on dry stalk give shape to a winter landscape. Now is the time – the cutting time. The preparation for new growth.

The cutting is unavoidable. A necessity to foster growth. Without it, life seeps into limp stalks, spread thin. Stilted growth. Without the cutting, the plant grows weaker. Its blooms, less hearty. Less plentiful.

The cutting is necessary. And so, we cut.

And we chase sepia blooms that ride the breeze, tumbling down our hill. Faded beauty remains in fragile splays of crisp petal. Delicate hands grasp at them, taking care not to crumple fibrous lace.

A maze of stems reach to sky on plants that appear spent after a harsh winter.

Beneath the stem surface, life bubbles. New growth peeks out. Pink-rimmed buds force their way out of stalk.

Spring is on the horizon. The promise of new growth.

Now is the time. Turn away from winter. The pain of the cutting will soon be only a memory.

Through it, we’re being made new.

Strong.

Fruitful.

Beautiful blooms in the hands of the divine gardener.

“Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?”
Isaiah 43:18-19