Every seedpod holds a kernel of hope, the potential for new life. In a way it defines the whole journey of life. Seed is the beginning and the end.
The wonder of the first shoot coming through the earth, the unfurling of the first bud and the radiance of the full blown flower all remind me that life is a process, that it takes time to blossom. But as I’m discovering, eventually the flower fades and the seedpod becomes the essence of the continuity of life.
It’s often the most overlooked part of any plant. We smell the rose but how often do we admire the hip? Old age feels a lot like that. Often overlooked, frequently dismissed and yet filled to overflowing with life experience and hard earned wisdom, the sort that only the storms of life can birth. But experience and wisdom that can live on beyond us as we hand it onto the next generation … like seed sprinkled on fresh ground.
But the pod must be broken for the seed to be set free and in many ways it's the broken people who have the most to give. Those who’ve endured. The resilient souls who’ve been battered and bruised by the storms of life but not given up. People who faced life head on and lived it to the full. Time and life have matured them and their legacy is rich.
The wonder of the first shoot coming through the earth, the unfurling of the first bud and the radiance of the full blown flower all remind me that life is a process, that it takes time to blossom. But as I’m discovering, eventually the flower fades and the seedpod becomes the essence of the continuity of life.
It’s often the most overlooked part of any plant. We smell the rose but how often do we admire the hip? Old age feels a lot like that. Often overlooked, frequently dismissed and yet filled to overflowing with life experience and hard earned wisdom, the sort that only the storms of life can birth. But experience and wisdom that can live on beyond us as we hand it onto the next generation … like seed sprinkled on fresh ground.
But the pod must be broken for the seed to be set free and in many ways it's the broken people who have the most to give. Those who’ve endured. The resilient souls who’ve been battered and bruised by the storms of life but not given up. People who faced life head on and lived it to the full. Time and life have matured them and their legacy is rich.
I love these pods hand painted by nature, appliqued with lichen and moss, knobbly and gnarled, as if life has adorned them with added beauty through the seasons of their existence. Oh that the wrinkles I see each morning in the mirror had the same degree of charm!
The more seedpods I photograph, the more amazed I am at the uniqueness of their detail and design and their multiplicity of styles … each handmade for its purpose. Some need a raging fire to open them up and some, a gentle breeze.
They remind me of people. There are the tough, rugged, no nonsense type that are hard to crack, the free spirited ones that have leaned to fly, and the wild, flamboyant ones that fire the imagination with their passion and energy. Sound like folks you know?
I wonder how fully we realise our uniqueness and how precious that is? Its hard for most of us to see ourselves as unique but to us has been given what no other person has ever had. Created for a purpose that no one else can fulfil in the way we can. It fills me with awe.
Dan Allender says, We are, in fact, a unique, once-on-the-earth life that reveals the story of Jesus in a fashion that no one else will ever do in the way we are written to reveal.
They remind me of people. There are the tough, rugged, no nonsense type that are hard to crack, the free spirited ones that have leaned to fly, and the wild, flamboyant ones that fire the imagination with their passion and energy. Sound like folks you know?
I wonder how fully we realise our uniqueness and how precious that is? Its hard for most of us to see ourselves as unique but to us has been given what no other person has ever had. Created for a purpose that no one else can fulfil in the way we can. It fills me with awe.
Dan Allender says, We are, in fact, a unique, once-on-the-earth life that reveals the story of Jesus in a fashion that no one else will ever do in the way we are written to reveal.
The acorn can’t give birth to a rose but it can give birth to a mighty oak. That challenges me to value my uniqueness, all of me, the bits I love and the frailties I wish could be otherwise. To celebrate the person God created me to be and not to want to follow the crowd or want to be other than who I am. I want to be the best version of myself, yet not I, but through Christ in me.
In the words of my new favourite song, "Oh Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer, may all my days bring glory to Your name."
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpELMk4-3n8
In the words of my new favourite song, "Oh Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer, may all my days bring glory to Your name."
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpELMk4-3n8
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