We grew a tree paeony in a trough in our previous garden. It took about five years to grow just over a metre high. It produced, briefly, the most astonishing flowers each Spring but many years the buds would be eaten by something before they could flower.
It was such a beautiful plant we decided to dig it up and replant it in a pot when we moved house. It seemed to survive the winter and yesterday it opened its first flower.
Look at it spilling out an abundance of yellow pollen. It just amazes me. There are at least half a dozen buds on it, and so far, none of them have been nibbled.
New life, growth and flourishing always entrance me. They seem miraculous not least because you can never be sure how things are going to go.
I’m more convinced than ever that health emerges when a good environment exists and that flourishing occurs as a consequence of care and attention.
I think that’s just as true for humans as it is for flowers. There is no healing other than through the natural processes of self-healing. Recovery and flourishing take time, patience and hope. And there are no artificial substitutes for loving care and attention.
Heroes Not Zombies 
Leave a Reply