“If you must look back, do so forgivingly.
If you will look forward, do so prayerfully.
But the wisest course would be to be present
in the present. Gratefully.”
- Maya Angelou
I encourage you to take - from today's flower and quote - the personal wisdom and guidance that comes to you for your own life as you read about the flower and you consider the quote. At
the end of this message, I share what I am taking for my life.
The flower featured in Today's Touchstone, Brunfelsia pauciflora, is commonly known as Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow.
Each flower experiences yesterday, today, and tomorrow, as we do, but for a very short time, as each blossom has a life expectancy of three days, during which the flower's color
changes gracefully from a vibrant, new life violet/blue, to a softer, mellowed mid-life violet/blue, to a faded blue becoming elder white.
Maya Angelou's quote speaks for itself. So please read it again with the ear of your heart.
From the flower and the quote I'm personally reminded that all the stages of life and all the time I have here are gifts. I intend to look back with compassion and gratitude, look ahead with hope and prayers, and to live in the present as best I can.
I painted this while I was in a watercolor class taught by artist, Mary Lou Peters, and held in the garden at Sanibel Moorings. I chose this subject for its beauty, its symbolism, the wisdom it offers.
I'm offering it today
as I wish for each of us to live each day richly and to age with grace and gratitude.
Always,
Charlene
THE TENTH GIFT IS WISDOM.
May you hear its soft voice.
- from The Twelve Gifts of Birth
