TODAY THE WORDS are THE LIFE OF A DAY LILY

For all of you that know me, I know you are already thinking, she is going to dedicate this to her Mother. You are right! Momma loved her day lilies and the photo is one of her favorites. My thoughts went to the life of a day lily when our beautiful day lily plants, mostly were given to us by Momma, are starting their way through the ground and their bright green leaves are making their entrance into the world. Greg has already fed them the bone meal, having been given good instructions from Momma on the times you feed them and when you don’t. The day lily stays for a while with petals intact and protected while it grows strong and firm. The blooms shoot up toward the skies in a pod of blooms similar to the family of brothers and sisters with the plant being the parent and the blooms their offspring. We watch; we get excited and we anticipate the day when the bloom finally opens and we have to see each one; stand in awe over its unique beauty; and we take pictures as if we will never see it again. 

Day lilies, however beautiful, are so fragile and if it rains the day they bloom, they are destroyed. If the sun shines brightly, it is an array of incredible beauty for that day. When Momma started her collection, I was not familiar with “day lilies” and was astonished that they only last one day; hence the name “day” lily. It seemed like a lot of work to see them only bloom for one day but we quickly got on the day lily train. It was wonderful seeing the excitement on Momma’s face when one of her favorites, and yes, she had favorites, bloomed. Momma knew their names and was so proud of them. 

Now for the deeper thoughts….Momma, through the day lily process, was exercising the “parent” role. She tended them, pulled weeds, gave them nourishment, watched over them, split the plants at the appropriate time, and most importantly loved them. Throughout my life, she had shown us even more love and supervision. My thoughts, while thinking about the day lily, is that Momma lost two of her children too soon in life and experienced that incredible loss. She missed her two sons and even though she showered my sister and I with an abundance of love, we knew she was never quite the same. She had suffered as the day lily parent does when after the short day, the beautiful, magnificent bloom dies. What God did for our Mother is give her day lilies and people to shower that extra love and kindness. Make the most of your day lily short day as life is short; blossom into the best bloom in life!

  My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies. I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine: he feedeth among the lilies.