Today I am sitting in the front row of my alma mater’s graduation ceremony. It is an all girls school and the ceremony is filled with tradition, ceremony, white gowns and could be confused as a debutante ball to a casual observer. In all the pomp and circumstance, I find myself tuning out the speeches and looking at the beautiful roses sitting in every graduates lap.
Their roses do not have any thorns, but as I reflect back decades ago when I too sat on that stage, I was nothing more than a thorny rose. Sure, I was young and full of energy but the reality is that what was within was still thorny. The irony is that as I look at the fresh-faced beauties in their white gowns gazing blindly into their futures, it is only now that I realize their true beauty is yet to come.
What they don’t realize is that their lives are like the roses in their laps, de-thorned, closed buds that are full of fragrance and possibility. Where does the real beauty begin? How does the rose lose its thorn and open?
The answer I believe comes with each act of grace and kindness. It is the moments of a life that open the bud. Each moment a gift of growth and which slowly opens the flower. Over time the petals burst to full-bloom, the fragrance heavenly and the inner beauty abounds, unleashed for all.
As I sit here, smiling and watching, each girl takes her roses, grabs their petals and throws them up into the wind… all the petals blow away, as each bud awaits its turn to open.
Charity Matters.
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1 Comment
Heidi — I love this beautiful post.