lesson in waiting from an orchid...

...yes...an orchid...

many years ago...my uncle had given me the most beautiful orchid...it truly was stunning...and of course...my first thought was..."i hope i don't kill it..." but my uncle told me that the owner of the orchid store had said not to over water...and everything should be ok...yeah...easy for the owner of an orchid store...i had heard that you need to find the right spot for the orchid...and it would florish...

so how do you know where the right spot is? if you came to this blog to find the answer...you came to the wrong place... =)

i decided to keep it right by my kitchen sink...right by a window sill...don't ask me why...it was more a selfish reasoning...i knew that i would be able to see it there throughout the day...so that is where it stayed...

the amazing thing about this particular orchid...the blooms lasted for 18 months...18 months!! is that normal? i don't think so...but i really don't know as i am not that versed in orchids...it was amazing...seriously...to see a plant that had flowers on it for that long...i mean...even the plants in the yard lose their blooms...

so after 18 months...the blooms finally fell off the orchid plant...and i figured they would bloom again in the next year...

nothing happened...so i continued to water the bloomless orchid - being careful not to over-water...and many many times i wanted to move the orchid...as now...when i looked at it...by the side of my sink...by the window sill...it just had these ugly brown branches...who wants to look at that every day? but the leaves continued to remain very green...my sign that the orchid was not dead...and i was a bit afraid to move it...so i waited...

...and another year went by...no blooms...

2 years of nothing...no sign of blooms...just brown twigs coming out of 2 big green leaves...

i was ready to give this orchid up...because truly...the beauty in the orchid is the blooms...nothing else...

so if you've been reading my blog...you will know that i just came back home from being away dog-sitting my brother and sister-in-law's dog...

as i was preparing my first dinner...i don't really know what it was that made me look at the orchid...because i had kind of trained myself not to look...to be reminded of this bloomless orchid...but i looked...

and...i blinked...because i couldn't believe it...there were blooms...not open yet...but the two twig branches were both full of tiny bulbs...waiting to burst open...when i least expected it...

at that moment...i got the lesson...sure as if God was standing in my kitchen chatting it up with me...the waiting...no matter how long...and no matter how dry it looks...or how bleak...the bloom is coming...are we willing to wait it out...for that perfect timing?