Growing Roses (and other things)
Have you ever bought (or if you haven't bought, at least seen? And if you haven't seen, well...) a new rose bush? (And if you have no idea what I'm talking about, stick with me- Ha! Rose thorn joke!)
When you buy a new rose bush, generally speaking, it comes as a series of stems attached to a big ball of dirt, wrapped in plastic, and, if you're lucky, with a couple of leaves promising a bright, rosy future (Another rose joke? You're killing me, Myda!) Usually on a card introducing the plant (its species, care instructions, etc.) is a picture of the most beautiful, fully-bloomed rose, in colors almost unimaginable in nature.
It's hard to believe that this bag of dirt and sticks could produce such a stunning flower, but you think to yourself, 'hey, how hard could it be?'
The thing about growing roses is, it's freaking difficult. [Full Disclosure: I have never grown roses but I have grown other things with much difficulty if that's any consolation.] To get to cardboard-picture picture perfect rose from bag of dirt is truly no small feat. It takes the right conditions, the right amount of light, the right amount of water, of pruning, of care, of specific fertilizer, pH of soil...have I lost you yet?
Exactly! To get to picture perfect rose is seemingly damn-near possible. Yet, if you are committed to its growth, really, really committed, it will grow. And not only will it look as, if not more, astounding than the picture, it will smell amazing and its petals will feel like velvet to the touch. You would almost say, as you wipe the sweat from your brow, what luck! Knowing that luck had nothing to do with it. That it took such attention, care and cultivation to help nurture those bare branches into producing such a thing of beauty.
And yet...
When we look to trying to create a more perfect self, life, world, etc., making our dreams happen or manifesting a new reality, we often get stuck in the star-gazing stage- the equivalent of staring at the card with the picture of the rose on it. We can see it. We can imagine how beautiful it would be to have it. We think how happy we would be! How it would solve all our problems! How, if we had that rose, everything would be perfect!
More often than not, however, we don't even buy the bag, believing that there is no way that pile of sticks could become that rose.
And for those of us who do buy the bag, even make the effort to plop it in the ground and throw some water on it from time to time, our hope quickly turns to disappointment when the two leaves that were there are now gone and there seems to be a colony of aphids attacking the stems. Our dreams of lush, beautiful roses vanquished, as dried up as the cardboard that held the picture of its promise.
This is the challenge we face. We are given a picture of our dreams of that perfect self, life, world, through an insight, a vision, a calling, of that desire in its perfect imagined form, (If it wasn't, would we even be enticed to follow it?) and we begin to believe that that is the only form it should or could exist. We can't imagine that where we are now, with our sticks and our dirt, could ever become anything near as beautiful as that luscious blossoming rose on the cardboard that we don't even bother to go further. (Funny thought if the rose bush bloomed not with roses but of cardboard pictures of them) Yet that's exactly what we do when we imagine our dreams realized. We get so attached to the picture of it that we make no space for what it actually can become.
The dream or vision realized is not just the picture of it in our minds- it is the whole process of its becoming, from bare sticks in dirt to full-bodied, scented, unbelievable extravagance as well as ALL the toil, sweat and heartache it took to get there. What if we were to tend to that bag of dirt with such attention, care, and cultivation, what would grow? Perhaps something bigger, more beautiful, more luscious, than we ever could imagine or visualize... or smell ;)