Becoming

I never explained why I chose "Blossoming" as the heading for my blog. There is a reason and I believe it deserves some explanation. In drama in 7th grade I got the end-of-the-year award of "Blossoming Rose" because I was just starting out but something good was present in my acting. I was transforming from a little baby bud into a flower. My life has been doing a lot of blossoming lately. In the past year I've filled out 8 college applications, produced a 432 page yearbook, decided on a school, started college and have done countless other smaller activities that have dramatically impacted who I am now. I am no longer the cute little bud of a rose I once was. Yet, I am still a long way from being a fully formed flower. Compared to the length of its life, a rose is in the blossoming stage for quite a while and I am no different. Over the next years I will continue to do new things and discover more of God's plan for my life. This blog records the thought processes I go through as I become that rose. So thats the reason for the title. But lately, I have been thinking a little more about becoming who I will one day be.

It seems as if flowers just blossom. It is something that happens without any effort on their part. But I was thinking about how being the flower would feel. A rose bud is not planning on blossoming - it is just something that naturally happens. All of a sudden, the green leaves surrounding its delicate petals start pulling away. At first, there does not seem to be a reason for this exposure and pain. Another color now shows between the green leaves, but it is nothing spectacular. And then, very slowly, each individual petal is pulled down a little further. The petals must separate and fold out and as this happens, the most fragile and delicate part of the flower is exposed to the world - bugs, rain, wind and sun. But each day as a new petal is revealed, the rose becomes more and more beautiful until finally all of them pulled back and the effect is amazing. 

I think, so often, we see the beautiful rose and forget about the process it took to get there. The same thing happens in the lives of people. We see someone with qualities which we admire and we think about what an amazing person they are but forget about what they went through to become that person. Or, when we are experiencing suffering and hardship, we forget about who we are becoming. We forget this is a process we must undergo - that each soft and delicate petal must be pulled back and exposed, that we must break free from the leaves around us. And we forget that everything we go through will play a part in the person we are becoming - the rose of our lives.