As I shared with my fellow Picture Fall classmates, this image makes me feel a little exposed and uncomfortable.  These are the poor curled remains of perhaps my favorite flowers this summer – vinca.  Surprisingly, our flower gardens held up remarkably well given that we were out of town for at least 3 full weeks this summer.  Since the start of school, I’ve shared very few moments with my beautiful blossoms.

It’s funny though, because these flowers hang baskets on my porch and I often think about how much I need to water them and care for them, or at the very least take them down and call it quits.  But I leave them.  They’ve become a bit like a bruise.  The kind that lingers far too long, and that you find your hand drawn to, pushing just to see if the pain is still there.

And yet, when I look at this closely, when I take in the remaining blossoms of other flowers, which you can’t see here, I realize there is an order, a plan, a design.  That something as small and seemingly inconsequential as a little flower knows enough to fold up, to curl inward when things get tough.  Isn’t that so true for us as well?  Today, I pushed myself harder than I ever have.  I ran the 11 miles between school and home.  It was the hardest and perhaps most rewarding thing I’ve ever done.  Meeting this one goal, has helped unearth the confidence I’ll need to carry me through the additional two miles for the full 13 next Sunday!

As time passes, I’m slowly learning more and more about each of my students.  I know that some of them, like these leaves, are curling in and closing up trying to survive.  It’s my sincere desire and heart’s hope to help them meet their goals and find themselves basking the water they desperately crave!