Lotus Flower

The quiet and activity of a morning at my lake house offers a serene solitude that is irreplaceable. The sun filters through the now, full-grown canopy that just a month ago was a multitude of buds popping their protective shell that weathered the deadly cold of winter. Life that was created to endure the seasons of change adapted itself for survival. Likewise, we pass though our personal season of life - entering the adult world as a teenager, marriage, the birth of a child, the death of a loved one, a job promotion, the purchase of a house, indebtedness, a debilitating accident or disease, receiving a pink slip, bankruptcy, divorce - all of these events taken together form the person we become, growing in wisdom with a positive attitude of perseverance or succumbing to the setbacks, slowly dying in defeat. What causes one person to rise above the ashes of life's destruction may bury another in the mucky mire of consequences that swallow one's zeal to livelong.

The lotus flower represents the cycle of death and regeneration. As the season of life changes to the season of death, the beautiful blossom wilts, and its lifeline falls to the bottom of the water's pit, disintegrating, yet leaving its life core intact while forming an infant bud that rests in the mire of dormancy. Its appearance is no longer colorfully grand, open petals beckoning one's eye. Below the surface of its water womb, unnoticed and forgotten, resting and preparing for the next opportunity to flourish once again, it awaits a warm and safe environment to rise above the seasonal setbacks that triggered its dormancy.

When a life event beats one down to the core of one's existence, one has the opportunity to evaluate the next stage of growth, preparing while dormant to seize the day when circumstances change, a serendipitous moment that can alter the cause of one's journey. What one acts on or ignores, blinded by the past or envisioning the future, will determine when and if the dormant bud bursts forth to display life again.

Choosing to grow forth and leave behind yesterday's calamity - divorce, bankruptcy, poor health, or the grief of death - the will to reach towards the light of today sparks one's ability to rise above the surface and blossom anew. ~JC

Lotus Flower
Copyright 05.10.12 Jeff Cambridge