"Be not just the rose, but the rose bush"

Sitting in meditation this morning, I had on my little altar a vase with one single pink rose in it.  Roses are such a thing of beauty, perfect in every way.  My rose is at that perfect stage of not being fully opened, just enough so the petals are softly curled open and it has that beautiful youthful shape that is exquisite...a blossoming bud! I was enthralled and entranced. Then I remembered how I had pricked my thumb on the thorn when I was pruning it. It got me a beauty and it bled.  My thumb was still a bit sore yesterday, so it must have injected some poison into me too.  I thought then that the rose bush is an ugly plant and how is it that it has such beautiful flowers?  But I see that the thorns are there to protect the flower from predators...such as myself.  My inner teacher said to me, "be not just the rose, but the rosebush..  It was then that I began to see the beauty of the whole plant.  The thorny stems, the leaves and the fact that the plant is deeply rooted in Mother Earth.  I see how resilient this plant is.  I am an intuitive gardener, so I don't really follow any guidebooks on how and when to prune my plants, I just do it when I feel to.  So, they are very "forgiving" too.  And that's funny because the stone that I picked out of my treasure box this morning was, :"Forgiveness"..   It seems this flower was not just beautiful, but strong, resilient, protected, deeply rooted, fragrant, thorny & forgiving.  Yes!  I want to be all of that! 
The flower is nothing without the plant. Embrace your wholeness!
Namaste,
​Chez xo

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