Flowers of Friendship & Passing Strangers.

Springtime - Blossom, flowers, bulbs, new shoots & buds. A time of sunshine & showers & opening up to the seasons to come. It's a metaphor for life.

The seasons of our lives mirror the seasons of a year stretched over how ever many years we are allotted. Although the signs of spring are all around me I am in the early winter of my life. So I ought to have learned a thing or two.

A garden is also a metaphor - for Friendship.

There are the many plants I have bought on a whim, which have faded and died because they were in the wrong soil or position or I didn't take enough care of them to get them established. Similarly with the passing friendships dotted through my life, which whithered & died, sometimes almost before they had begun.

Then there are the annuals, the passing strangers, which only last a season, but briefly give great pleasure. The seed packet is full of surprises. The possibility of renewal is always there because the seeds have been scattered. We never know when or if they are going to pop up again in our lives.

The perennials have put down strong roots. Provided their needs are met they last for years. So it is with long standing friendships. These are the plants which give structure to a garden & the friends who give structure to our lives. We can rely on them. We know where to find them & that they will always be there. They grow and flourish providing we don't take them for granted & we take care of them.

A neglected garden is a metaphor for a neglected life. We are the gardeners for both. We have the tools & the knowledge to keep them flowering & growing. It's sad that we often don't realise that we have to work at both, so they slowly become barren & full of the pervasive weeds of discontent.

The flowers of friendship are the most important things in lives as in gardens. We must take the time to cherish them.