A burst of vibrant colors all day... every day - these days!
These days, my source of daily joy has increased in number. As I look out of my window at our little house's receiving area while waiting for the kettle to whistle its announcement that it's ready to make coffee, I cannot help but smile as I see our fabulous Melendres plant through the sheer curtains. The Melendres plant is a shrub that is usually referred to as the 'cherry blossoms of the Philippines'. The round cherry-like pods of the plant turn brown by the month of April or May before bursting into colorful little flowers. The beautiful red and bright pink flowers lined with sharp white color around their velvety petals seem to give a cheerful greeting as the plant sways gracefully with the gentle morning breeze. It's like a
scene from animated movies for kids where every living thing around speaks merrily with the main character. I cannot help but breathe "good morning" to our Melendres plant... and all our other plants, which are, uhm, a lot!
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| Seeing beauty through the window. |
In the afternoon, when I return from work, a few meters from our house, the vibrant burst of colors dangling out of our fence, swaying prettily, seems to greet me some meters from our house. Butterflies and singing birds seem to dance with the flowers amid the equally vibrant colors of sunset... and it is, indeed, a scene to behold. It seems to remind me of God's blessings everyday, and this, while very beautiful and joyful that it fills the soul with much amazement, is just one of the 'smallest' of blessings in the grand scheme of things where God is at the center. It gives the most organic reason to stay still for a few minutes and cherish the many blessings of the day, and thank God for it all, through the Angelus at dusk. No wonder that Angelus is my late father's favorite prayer, and praying it was a practice that, I observed, was handed to him by my grandparents, and their parents before that. I remember growing up watching my paternal grandmother light the candles at our altar, and gathered us around the altar as she led in praying the Angelus... and then the Rosary.
These days, I am beginning to believe that letting one's self to be lost in admiration of the beauty of nature and paying homage to its Creator is prayer in itself. And, these days, it's the kind of prayer that I most enjoy. I thank God for this opportunity to be in this phase in my life, and in the place where I am, to experience this daily sustenance of the soul. Life is, indeed, beautiful; and God is, indeed, good... all the time!
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Image credit: The featured photos in this post belong to me. I took all of them.
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