Portulaca Pot

My friend Nancy, in Olympia, Washington, has a flower pot that goes around the umbrella in the middle of her patio table. Very cute. She has filled the flower pot with portulaca.

The terracotta pot is actually 2 pots, each going halfway around the umbrella stick. By tying the 2 halves together, there's the illusion that one pot goes completely around.

How often do we see something beautiful, only to later recognize its "brokenness," its unsatisfactoriness?

The portulaca pot is beautiful, but it's not quite as it seems. The illusion certainly fooled me.

Having Faith

Last summer i bought a small hanging pot of portulaca. It was cute, but it didn't "hang" that well. The magenta flowers were in the pot, not hanging down the sides.

I over-wintered the flowerless succulent indoors, then, in the spring, i divided it and planted it as an edging where it is now spectacular.

We undertake meditation in hopes of it blooming into our lives, but then, it may seem as though nothing is happening. If we keep tending it, even during the dark and cold times, it will eventually flower and surprise us with the beauty of the calmed mind.

This is all the faith we need on this path. Not faith in something unbelievable nor faith in something miraculous. Just the faith to sit and watch the present moment.

And then it blooms.

Photo for ppandl.net