[blockquote source=”Nicholas Sparks”]”Strange, what being forced to slow down could do to a person.”[/blockquote]

I had a bit of a late start today, and owing to those few extra moments spent puttering around in my garden.

And, though I might try my best to convince you that the garden needed my tending…the truth is, I think it was the other way around.

You see, in the past year, this garden has become my refuge – its lush greens and bowing branches offering me shelter from any of life’s passing ‘storms’.

And on this beautiful day, my roses were calling me.

They don’t seem to mind that I have slowed over these past years. I dare say, they rather like it – as, it’s left them far more time to preen and prattle on.

“Bless his l’il ole heart,” they begin…their whispered ‘sufferings’ carried to the winds. And, shared over a tall glass of sweet tea with my Peonies.

“M’hmm…” they reply.

sigh…

Roses can be such dreadful gossips – but, they are ‘Southern Belles’ , after all. And, they do bear careful reminder – that we must all, at times, slow down.

Like the bud of a flower, change forces our growth. And, we must be willing to yield, my friends – to the uncertainty that will surely follow.

To slow down and settle in, a bit – with the surety of a Southern Belle sipping sweet tea the Peonies.