Bloom in Grace

Many months ago, perusing garden supplies on some website, I came across copper words that are meant to be attached to a post or wall. They offered a large selection , but only a few seemed to fit our garden theme, so I bought the words “Bloom” , “In” and “Grace”.

When they arrived I enthusiastically showed them to David and told him I didn’t know if I should hang them to read “Bloom in Grace” or “Grace in Bloom.” Considering the fact that a Chakra Meditation Garden is designed to promote deeper reflection and a more enriching inner experience, both sentences would be appropriate.

David smiled and told me he had an idea so I wouldn’t have to choose. The words were stacked on the kitchen counter for a few weeks, getting in the way of our cooking, so I moved them outside to the porch where an ever growing stack of “to do” projects seemed to land. Eventually, I tucked them away in a box and one day, while cleaning the porch, they ended up being carted to the barn to be stored with all the other artsy things I plan to get to when I have time. I promptly forgot those garden décor pieces because life just got busy and something as lovely as playfully decorating the garden just doesn’t rise to the surface of my consciousness when the real life chores of weeding, mulching, pruning and making a living to support the garden is pulling at my brain.

But yesterday, David was cleaning the barn and organizing things and he must have stumbled upon those words, because at the end of the day, he invited  me to the garden to “see something he did for me…”

He recently made a  new arch to enhance one of the meditation benches that I felt seemed a bit plain and needing inspiration. I planted a beautiful orange trumpet vine at the two bases which is just now making its way up and towards the top. I suspect soon the vine covered  arch will be a gorgeous frame for this meditation spot. And there from the center point was a mobile he’d crafted with the words hanging from a piece of wood that rotates with the wind. The words are attached with rotating fixtures that allow them to twirl in place even while rotating as well.

Now, the words float in the wind and they read “Bloom in Grace” Or “Grace in Bloom”, depending on which way the wind is blowing . Sometimes the words are backwards or twirling too, which is a metaphor for how we find those moments of peace (fleeting even when we are present) too. You have to be patient and wait if you want to read the message lined up in a certain order.

It is spring and the garden is on the brink of exploding with flowers and new growth. Everything seems fresh, young and eager to emerge. I suppose soon I’ll be complaining about the heat and the dry conditions and the way certain plants threaten to take over my garden as they grow out of proportion and in whatever direction they wish. But now, everything seems to have just woken from a long sleep, and the plants are just stretching and yawning and waving good morning. I love the way the garden is never the same on any given day. Anything alive is destined to change, grow and someday fade – ourselves included. It’s important we all remember that and pause to appreciate how things are now – and even if our attempts to get in perfect alignment seems like aiming for a fleeting, moving target – to “ bloom in grace” – is always a possibility if we are patient and let the wind blow us where it will.