Bloom, Fade & Wither: Beholding the Wildflowers

This year, I was more attentive to the blooming and withering of the flowers in our field. I watched the clovers spring up, bloom yellow, fade to pale pink, wither to brown, and return to the earth. I have been reading a book by Broken Bread by Tilly Dillehay, and her perspective on the physical parts of our lives relating to the spiritual gave me a new sense of appreciation and awareness for the beauty in creation.

I’m not sad because the flowers withered away. It was a joy to watch the process unfold. It reminded me that I, too, will return to dust—not in a scary sense, but in the sense that I can enjoy the physical things of this life while knowing they only point to something greater. And I know who that greater One is, so I can praise Him and thank Him for the work of His hands!

“As for man, his days are like grass;

 he flourishes like a flower of the field;

 for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,

 and its place knows it no more.”

 Psalm 103:15–16