The Ides of March have passed once more, untroubled. Caesar falls but is replaced by another king, another president, another boss–and the world continues to rotate with a placid, almost stolid steadiness. Even Internal Revenue has accepted our tax return.When the seasons flow and while night and day continue to trot after each other without cease, the sky withholds and then sends down her rain, her sun, her snow–though all of this is change, it’s change in which we all comfortably believe, a future we feel safe to say we can predict. Prognosticators and seers and soothsayers have always wanted to believe–wanted us to believe–that they could cast the runes and fortune-tell what is to come. And even on the wings of simple faith, these are bound at times to be fulfilled. What we trust will come to be will be–when it will. The answer, an answer, always comes.
But what if the answer is not what we had hoped? How if we have built our plans on something we expect, the future we assume or even long to be? Lovely as the concept seems, small few are truly able to go about our day after the fact, chirpily singing ‘Que Sera, Sera‘ with sanguine calm.
I’ve always had a little bit of fatalism about the whole thing–if Life ever throws me something I truly can’t handle, why then it’ll kill me, won’t it, and such things won’t matter to me when I’m dead. That’s a little fatuous and silly, of course, and no comfort at all when I think things are pretty awful.
All I can really say that keeps my armor fairly intact then is that if my faith in general is bound to what I’ve seen and my confidence that it will continue or return is that so far Life’s been kind to me. So far, what has happened has always led eventually to good and pleasing things in my world. As winter follows autumn and is supplanted next by spring, as day and night keep dawning and turning over to dark, one after another, I trust that the fallow times of my life will be pushed away by cycles of productivity. That weariness will be refreshed by energy; dread will be reversed by hope. That sorrow will return to joy and chaos or misdirection will remember its path or will find a whole new way.
The door that closed is only redirecting me, however slowly I go, to another passage. And where that goes may well be the very fine and happy place I thought I was aiming toward to start.
Art-Colored Glasses 
Is it just a rose or tenderness in over-doze!
Excuse me if I couldn’t take away my eyes to read the lines after..
Some of our first blooms of the season in photos 1 and 2. Amazing, already in early April. (The third is a much older photo.) 🙂
especially love that last photo – something so magical about it – delicate – beautiful!
I think I took that one in one of our favorite parks near where we used to live–quite the spectacular rose garden in it, just exploding with silken blooms in good years.
As they say, when one door closes, another opens. I believe that too.
. . . and, much as I worry over the closed doors, I do find it exciting to see what the next one–or ten–might be about to disclose. 🙂
These flowers are so lovely.
What a great message to end with.
Thank you, Dienna, my fellow flower-lover! I am pleased that we’ve had such an unusually kind batch of spring weather that it seems we may have a truly abundant rose season this year.
I guess each person’s destiny is a combination of their actions, which they can control, and things they can’t control. I think we certainly contribute strongly to our destiny by our actions and that nothing is preordained.
Hear, hear.
Ahhh, another Parable of the Vines moment…never my favorite, but one I understand in ways that others might not…I’d much rather be the one doing the pruning, naturally, but sometimes I’m just another Vine, and the Gardener prunes me the way He wants me to grow…
Long as it’s not a down-to-the-ground renewal pruning (Cutting back the entire plant to start over), I can handle it…
I’m much too wimpy a plant to take that severe kind of pruning! May your season be one of sunlight and happy growth ahead, my dear!
I do believe we won’t be dealt a hand we can’t deal with.
Kathryn, your first two shots need to be blown up and put up for you to see every day – WOW.
🙂 Mandy xo
Well, if there’s enough resolution in the photos, maybe I’ll post them for sale on Zazzle too. I’ll have to see if they have enough integrity . . . I’m glad you like them, though! 🙂
Here’s hoping the next many rounds dealt to you are truly winning hands!
xoxo
Kathryn
I love the way you look at life. Your photos are as beautiful as your words.
Thank you, Karen, and I must say the very same to you!
xo
When I look back, it’s something to see the twists and turns that my life has taken, most of which could not have been predicted. As seemingly harsh as the closing of one particular door may seem, in retrospect, it was necessary to get me here. That realization sure does help when the next door slams shut.
Absolutely love the photography in this post, Kathryn.
Yes, I’m always amazed at the things that, however unwelcome they seemed in the moment, helped to shape the good that is present.
I’m glad you liked the roses. Nice that I can send bouquets to you occasionally, my friend!
The photos are so beautiful. There’s something hopeful about them; no matter what happens they will are there, sharing their beauty with us.
That is particularly spot-on in this instance, when I was inclined to put together photos taken on the day of posting (1 and 2) with one taken many many years ago (the 3rd) because they seemed to me to resonate together well. Certain kinds of beauty last forever in my mind but remain fresh in my heart.
A beautiful hopeful post, Kathryn. Thank you!
I’ve long since decided that there was no benefit in being a pessimist and giving in to my dark side, and thankfully, most of the time I’m able to stick to those precepts. It certainly helps that I’m surrounded by people like you who brighten my every day!
xoxo