We are weeks away from our city being overtaken in blossoms, and I can't wait :)
Spring is a season with a certain flavor of courageousness, of determination. What are the energies we are working with? To understand the heart of Spring. Let's look at the season's icon, the Cherry trees.
With the winter just over, with minimal sunlight and warmth plants have been unable to produce sustenance for months, so these trees have been living off their stored resources.
Not only have they not been able to produce nourishment but they have needed to protect themselves from the cold by dropping their leaves. Which means that before they have a chance at tasting fresh nutrients again, they will need to dig even deeper into that diminishing well of resources and produce a new generation of leaves in the first place.
So you would think that would be the very first thing to do after their deep slumber, no?
but it isn't. They will delay the birth of these leaves for weeks. Choosing instead to do one of the most 'expensive' things any plant can do - they flower.
Why?
Because simply 'living' is not enough for any being. We all need something to live 'for'.
When the tree bursts into flowers, it is saying to the universe 'I have something to offer. Look at me. See my gifts' it is shouting at Life 'I am open to you. I want to create something with you'
By putting out the flowers first, the invitation to the bees and other pollinators is unobstructed. There is no distraction, no disguise from what these trees are trying to create.
So the bees come. Some flowers will be found, others will wither, some will ripen into fruits and seeds, some will not. but it doesn't matter. It will be sufficient.
Even though this herculean effort can only be sustained for a little bit, and only once a year, it is enough.
Even as the flowers fall and the leaves get to work, the tree has now set itself on a new course. It does not need to agonize over what to do. It has already rolled its dice. The fruits will swell, a new generation will be born, the trees will have created their legacy.
I am often in Awe of the message of this season, perhaps because it is my birth season?, I am moved by the leap of faith shown in such behavior. I cannot help but to ask myself:
- Where am I playing it too safe? - yes, spring is only once a year so it follows that not everything in our lives might be in this season, it might not be wise to leap first and figure it out later in all... but where would it? Where will I never ripen unless I do?
- How can I trust my gifts even more? - The tree not only trusts that its flowers will attract the right attention, it also trusts its own resources to be sufficient until photosynthesis can happen, it trusts its fruits and the seed they carry... Do I do the same? Do I trust in my resilience? In my inner rhythm?
- Am I letting go? - Unlike the steady greenness and lavishness of Summer, Spring is delicate, fleeting. The flowers that were so expensively crafted can be brought down with a light rain. Even if not, they will surrender their place to leaves soon, it is ethereally beautiful, quite quick and yet... So what? So what if it is fleeting, so what if it's shiftable? Is it not gorgeous? Where am I gripping too tightly in my life? Perhaps seeking for perfection, or to have everything planned out. Where would it be a blessing to just let go of control and see what happens?
If you would borrow the dashing daringness of Spring, what would you commit to in your life?
I would love to hear from you
Andrea
