Trim Your Roses


While I was living in Florida last year, my morning walk to go to workspace to get my breakfast and work hours included a street that was absolutely covered with stunning rose bushes. 

Without fail, though I would be enjoying the gorgeous flowers one week, and the next there would be nothing but stubs. Every time the roses dissapeared, I wondered why. 

Why trim something that appears to be blooming? Why kill something that still has life in it? 

Roses, even those in peak bloom, have a season, with a time to grow and a time to lie dormant. 

As they near the end of this season, the ends of their stems begin to die, and disease starts to take hold within the buds. Without proper pruning, this can suck the life from the rest of the plant. Lacking the attention of a trim, even healthy rose bushes grow wild, expanding beyond their purview, rampant, without the support of a solid center. 

It seems counterintuitive, yes. But rose bushes need to be trimmed down to almost nothing in order to thrive when the next season begins. The trim signifies a time to regroup, recuperate, and ultimately replenish. 

Often, the most difficult time to change or let-go-to trim- is when we seem to be mid-bloom ourselves. 

We are thriving, or so we think. We resist the pruning because we can see only the current moment. We forget that there is a season of blooming ahead. But, just as I couldn't see what was going on with the rose bushes I passed on my morning walk, we might be blind to what's beneath the surface—what disease might have taken root in our stems, what expansion needs to be held back in order to support us in the future. 



Love, 
Elista x



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