The Language of Flowers

The other day I stopped at my local farmer's market. It was almost closing time and I nearly didn't stop. I figured everything good was already gone. I bought some snow peas and a bundle of fresh dill and fresh thyme. Chicken salad was sounding delicious to me. My last stop was at an older lady's table. I have bought a few items from her over the years and she always likes to talk to me. She loves to grow flowers. Over the years she has sold little bouquets to many different people. For several years, there was an older gentleman who would stop and buy her fresh bouquets to take his bed-ridden wife in the nursing home. The day I stopped she had only one bouquet left. I didn't really "need" the flowers and I was in a hurry. My husband was waiting for me to bring home the car so he could leave for an appointment. She chatted on about her failing health and an upcoming surgery. I lamented the demise of the lavender in my yard. She complained about how the rain got her peonies. She looked frailer than the last time I saw her. I decided to buy her bouquet for $3. Her hands shook as she wrapped the stems in a grocery bag and nearly gave me too much change. She instructed me about their care and we smiled and said goodbye. I came home and trimmed the stems and found an antique blue mason jar to put the bouquet in. I wrapped some jute twine about the neck and stuck an antique clothes pin in the twine....just because. I was amazed at how beautiful they looked in the proper setting. Before that, they were pretty but I did not see how stunning they were until I took the time and arranged them to my liking. My heart was warmed when I thought of this sweet older widow who made a few dollars each week at the farm market. The gardening gives her a purpose and keeps her arthritic joints from getting stiffer. I was so glad I took the time to listen to her and purchase her little bouquet. She is so sweet. Even as I am writing this, I realized why she touched my heart so much. She reminded me a bit of my beloved grandmother who has been gone six years. My gram loved flowers and vegetables and she was the best pie baker ever! She never used a recipe!

Take the time when you can to stop an encourage someone who needs you. Smiles and time are free. You will find yourself blessed in ways you don't expect. 

Make us worthy Lord to serve our fellow men throughout the world,

who live and die in poverty and hunger.

Give them through our hands, this day, their daily bread

and by our understanding love give peace and joy.

Lord, make me a channel of thy peace.

That where there is hatred I may bring love,

That where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness,

That where there is discord, I may bring harmony,

That where there is error I may bring truth,

That where there is doubt I may bring faith,

That where there is despair I may bring hope,

That where there are shadows I may bring light,

That where there is sadness I may bring joy.

Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted,

To understand than to be understood,

To love than to be loved.

For it is by forgetting self that one finds.

It is by forgiving that one is forgiven,

it is by dying that one awakens to eternal life.

Amen. ~retold by Mother Theresa