The Flower Garden

The Flower Garden

by Danice Hope

In a past year, when we walked into the women’s meeting at church, we discovered an artificial flower on each seat. At the end of the lesson, the teacher explained that we are each like this variety of flowers: red, yellow, yellow-orange, purple, white, etc. On my seat was a stem of yellow daisies. Then they gathered all the flowers and made two bouquets. They were beautiful together, but they were many in their color and shape. Our teacher explained that like the individual flowers of the bouquets, we each are needed; that we each have something to give.

I’ve always loved flowers. When I was young, I loved to go up the mountain in the spring to see the wildflowers as they bloomed: sunflowers, delicate purple flowers growing in the shade, violet-hued phlox and red Indian paintbrush. Later in summer, at the top of the mountains, I would go see another variety of flowers: purple wild geraniums, wild roses, and many more.

Since moving south, I’ve discovered new flowers that are tough enough to withstand the heat: desert marigold, desert bluebells, and yellow brittlebush. Some grow amidst thorns, such as yellow prickly pear or red claret cup cactus. Some only bloom briefly, when the temperature is right and the rain plentiful.

If asked which of these flowers is the most lovely, I would have a hard time deciding. If all were roses, and only roses were considered acceptable, then I would mourn the loss of so much beauty. People all over the world come in such a variety as well. Each culture has its own appeal and diversity.  All around us are old, young, healthy, sick, disabled, rich, poor, those who grieve and those who are content. Too often stereotypes indicate that we are only of worth if we are healthy, educated, famous, etc. We each have something to give. We are needed in all our variety and abilities. Who are we to say that only certain ones are of worth?

To each is given a gift. Are we ordinary? Unusual or exotic? Able to bloom in adverse conditions? With God’s help, we can find a way. Whether in a desert or the snow, in a far away country or a beautiful garden, what can each of us become as we trust in the Lord’s tender care?

Keukenhof park in Netherlands. Image ID: 69624777. © Jaysi | Dreamstime.com

What Kind of Flower are you?

Like each individual flower, we are each beautiful, valued and unique in our own way. We are all God’s children in all our wonder and diversity.

I would like to post your stories, poems, and essays about your experiences with life’s struggles. (You don’t need to have the same illnesses as I do). Please send me your work that you feel would benefit others going through their own struggles. Not too long please. You keep your own copyright. You can submit your work from my About Me page.

Stories

Image by Kev from Pixabay, theOtherKev, https://pixabay.com/photos/cygnet-bird-waterfowl-water-bird-8050536/

More Stories

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/a-brief-but-spectacular-take-on-advocating-for-people-with-chronic-illnesses Rivka Solomon explains what it’s like to have ME/CFS.

http://www.tonibernhard.com/index.html Toni Bernhard tells her own chronic illness story. She tells how she learned to cope using her Buddhist beliefs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLPCuEdqIWY ME sufferer Emma Donohoe investigates how young people cope with this debilitating illness, of which symptoms can include devastating fatigue, digestion issues and brain fog. Emma meets the mother of a 21 year old who died after suffering for years from ME and says her daughter’s condition is so stigmatized and misunderstood that she was embarrassed to tell people what she was suffering from.

https://ajourneythroughthefog.co.uk/ Jo Moss discusses anxiety, depression and ME/CFS. She hopes to help others by sharing her experiences.

https://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/news/do-you-really-believe-me? “Do you really believe in ME?” With many in the medical profession misunderstanding ME, Dr Nina Muirhead recounts her own experience with the illness and how it reshaped her understanding of it. 

https://dsavannah.com/blog/ dSavannah Rambles blog “I am a disabled #InvisibleIllnessWarrior; I fight a number of debilitating, chronic conditions, which combined cause me never-ending severe pain and severe fatigue. (My primary conditions are ME/CFS and fibromyalgia, along with a bunch of other diagnoses and mental health issues.)” She also has a good list of resource links.

https://humansofchronicillness.org/ “Humans of Chronic Illness”, many experiences of those with ME/CFS, long Covid and related illnesses.

http://www.investinme.org/Article-050%20Sophia%20Wilson%2001.htm “The Story of Sophia and ME”, Sophia Mirza died of severe ME. Here is the story of prejudice against a very real illness.

https://www.jaytay.co.uk/ Jessica Taylor Bearman has severe ME. She tells her courageous story in her books, A Girl behind Dark Glasses, and A Girl in One Room.

https://livewithcfs.blogspot.com/ “Live with ME/CFS”. Sue Jackson has lived with ME/CFS since 2002, and her two sons have it too and one has Lyme disease.

https://solvecfs.org/me-cfs-long-covid/long-haul-voices/ Long Haul Voices is a mini-series that amplifies the experiences of individuals with Long Covid and ME/CFS, the experts devoted to improving their care, and the challenges surrounding these largely invisible, poorly-understood diseases.

https://www.notdoneliving.net/ Ricky Buchanan’s view of being bedridden with ME/CFS.

https://www.fms-help.com/ Dominie developed fibromyalgia in 1982. Here are her thoughts, story, and tips for coping.

https://www.elisabethtovabailey.net/ Elisabeth Tova Bailey tells the inspiring and intimate story of her year-long encounter with a Neohelix albolabris—a common forest snail. While an illness keeps her bedridden, Bailey watches as the snail takes up residence on her nightstand. The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating is a remarkable journey of survival and resilience, showing us how a small part of the natural world illuminates our own human existence.

https://voicesfromtheshadowsfilm.co.uk/ “Voices from the Shadows” shows the brave and sometimes heartrending stories of five ME patients and their carers, along with input from Dr. Nigel Speight, Prof. Leonard Jason and Prof. Malcolm Hooper.

https://content.iospress.com/articles/work/wor220487 by Zoe Sirotiak, “My experience with ME/CFS began in the spring of 2020, following an infection with COVID-19. While the illness I experienced after being infected with COVID-19 was the worst of my life to that point, I fully expected to recover and be back to my usual self soon. I was not even aware of ME/CFS then, and I certainly did not anticipate what would unfold over the following months.”

https://www.anniejournal.com/wastelands-geraldine-mccarthy “To the Wastelands” an essay by Geraldine McCarthy. “You are condemned to the wastelands, a territory where people appear healthy, but feel unwell.  It is a cold, inhospitable place, where you are treated with mistrust, as if you are an unreliable witness to what’s going on in your own body.”

This is where I first got the idea for the Flower Garden.

The Black Rose

by Danice Hope

In an education class, I was inspired by the story of one of America’s great educators who made a difference in the lives of many. Mary McLeod (1875-1955) was the fifteenth of seventeen children born to African American parents in Mayesville, South Carolina. She first attended school at age nine in a free school for African American children. She would come home from school and teach her brothers and sisters what she had learned each day. She believed that education was the way to help African American children move into the mainstream of American life. She started the Daytona Normal and Industrial School for girls. This school later became Bethune-Cookman College, where she served as president until 1942.

She believed that education helped everyone to respect the dignity of all people, regardless of color or creed. Mary McLeod Bethune served as founder and head of the National Council of Negro Women. She also served in the National Youth Administration and advised President Franklin D. Roosevelt on minority affairs.

Her diary^[i] entry from 7 December 1937 offers insight into the hopeful attitude that allowed Mary to accomplish so much: “I know so well why I must be here and why I must go to tea at the White House — to remind them always that we belong here; we are a part of America.”

Mary McLeod Bethune was called “the Black Rose”. When she was speaking, she would describe a “people garden”. She said the people of the world were like flowers growing in a garden. Red, yellow, small, or tall, all were different, but each was lovely.

Once a child said to Mrs. Bethune that blacks couldn’t live in a people garden, because there weren’t any black flowers. “Just because you have not seen a thing doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist^[ii],” she said.

While travelling in Holland years later, Mrs. Bethune was given the bulbs of black tulips. She had some planted at the entrance of her school. In Switzerland, she was shown the black rose. She was so glad, that when she got home, she ordered 72 black rose bushes, which were planted at Bethune-Cookman College.

[i] James A. Johnson, et al. Introduction to the Foundations of American Education. Allyn and Bacon. Needham Heights, MA. 1999. Page 320.

[ii] Patricia and Fredrick McKissack. Mary McLeod Bethune: A Great Teacher. Enslow Publishers, Berkeley Heights, N.J. 2001. Page 19.

Black Rose. ID 57078666 © Tatyanaego | Dreamstime