Mesmerized by a Bee

Snapdragon

Dear Soul Friends,

There is a patch of dirt by the side of my driveway that gets enough sun for a small flower garden. My grandmother and mother taught me to grow flowers for simple arrangements for my home and to give to others. I have continued the family tradition.

I am a willy-nilly gardener. If I see something I like and I think it will grow well, I plant it. I don’t keep a notebook or spreadsheet of the names of the flowers I plant and I often wonder what they will look like when they bloom. I like the surprise.

Each year I plant twelve dahlias. It is my favorite late summer flower. Sadly, this year only seven of them grew. The wet, cold spring kept the dirt cold and damp and some of the tubers rotted. The ones that did grow took forever to bloom. One day in mid-September, I stood on the driveway staring at the small buds of one dahlia. I was very impatient for it to bloom and wondered if I would see it before the first frost. Although I was sure it would be spectacular, I was frustrated to see that it looked exactly like it had the day before.

Suddenly my attention was drawn to an enormous bumble bee buzzing around the snapdragons by my legs. I had never seen such a huge bee and was astonished at the bee’s quest for the nectar. Snapdragons are tall stalks with small flowers running up each stalk. The flowers open from bottom to top and make spectacular cut flowers when in full bloom. Each little flower is the shape of a narrow jaw with a top and a bottom. 

I noticed the bee was hovering in front of the flower using its front legs to push open the bottom “jaw.” Once open the bee crawled inside and the flower closed around it. After a number of seconds, the bee backed its way out of the flower pushing open the lower “jaw” with its back side before buzzing away to the next flower. If one of the flowers didn’t open, the bee buzzed onto the next. I was mesmerized. How did the bee know how to open the flower? How did it know it could back out once it was finished collecting nectar? What if the flower wouldn’t open? 

I completely forgot about my disappointing dahlia. It was as though the bee was saying, “Are you paying attention, Susan. This is what you need to see today. Be delighted by what is, not by what might be.”

This is a lesson I learn again and again. Be astonished, not disappointed. Seek the glory of the moment. It has so much to say.

May your day be blessed by glory.

Deep peace,

Susan