sometimes it takes a while to bloom
One of the things that captivated me about our house when we first looked at it was the two hydrangea bushes nestled into the corner of the front porch. Hydrangeas have always been one of my absolute favorite flowers. They remind me of my childhood and the massive blue bundles that would grow every spring and summer in the backyard of our home in Mobile, Alabama.
Last summer shortly after we moved in, our hydrangeas were in full bloom. Every week I would cut a few new stems to put on display in our kitchen. This summer, the leaves have been full but the blooming flowers have been nonexistent. I wondered what I did wrong. I pruned them when the time was right, making sure they had the water and sunshine they needed. But still, the blooms did not come. I even asked our lawn service if they were being eaten by deer. After some examination, he concluded that the buds were not being eaten, they just simply haven’t shown up this season. “Maybe next season,” he said.
But I didn’t want to wait until next season. Hydrangeas are one of my favorite parts of summer. I’d started to give up hope that it was a lost cause and my hydrangea bushes weren’t going to bloom this year. Until… After an exhausting morning of motherhood, I walked out to my car when out of the corner of my eye I spotted the tiniest little burst of color.
We can do all the right things, give all the proper nourishment and care to something only to grow weary when the color doesn’t burst from it when we expect it to. We have to be reminded that not all aspects of the environment are in our control. Despite our ability to check the boxes and do all the right things, sometimes it just takes a while to bloom.
So, when the dream you had in your heart doesn’t come to fruition in the timeline you had envisioned, remember sometimes it just takes a while to bloom.
When your child starts at a new school and doesn’t seem to be settling in the way you’d hoped, remember sometimes it just takes a while to bloom.
When you put forth the effort to change something in your life and you’ve yet to see any progress, remember sometimes it just takes a while to bloom.
And just like my hydrangeas, when those things do finally burst into bloom, they will fill the space that was waiting for them all along.