Lessons from Flowers and Funerals

I got a beautiful bouquet of flowers for my birthday.  They sat, beautiful and fragrant, on my counter for a week before any of their beauty faded.  But, as all flowers do, they had a time limit on how long they would bring their special kind of beauty to my world.  

This morning as I looked at my flower arrangement, I realized the really valuable lesson from these flowers.  We all have a special beauty to share with the world, and there’s a time for sharing that beauty.  I’m not suggesting that we only have a week, and then we’re dried up and ready for the trash bin…but I am suggesting that when we recognize that we have a purpose and a special beauty to share with the world, we won’t waste the time we have to share it.  

Nothing reminds me of this more than attending the funeral of a friend, which I did recently.  She was gone, way too soon….there were things I know she wanted to experience that she didn’t have the opportunity to experience.  There were trips and outings we talked about taking but didn’t get to take.  But there was one thing my friend did really well, and that was she didn’t leave things unsaid between friends. I remember a day when she walked into my office and sat down to chat, which was a favorite part of my day.  Her only purpose for the chat was to tell me how much she valued our friendship.  She told me she didn’t want me to not know that….then she beamed her radiant smile and went back to work.  I hope I never forget that moment, and that I follow her lead with those around me, to make sure they know how important they are.  

My beautiful friend didn’t know then when her time would be up, but like the flowers on my counter, she used her time to share her special beauty with the world.  These are weird times we’re living in, and some days I sit and wonder what “next” will look like, and I even worry about how to move from “now” to “next”.  The lesson from the flowers and the funeral is that I shouldn’t spend my time wondering and worrying….I should spend my time sharing my special beauty with the world, just as it is right now.  And when I do that….when we all do that…the world will be a more beautiful and wonderful place!