Finding Beauty in Little Things

I had a visitor one morning while I was watering my flower bed. He was quiet and unobtrusive, camouflaged among the leaves, and I thought the framing made for a beautiful picture which I am pleased to share with you guys on read.cash.

Can you spot him?

I was pleased to capture and share a pic of my garden with my friendly visitor, of course, but that morning, as I looked at him just lying there and musing among my flowers, I thought also of the guests you'd like to have in your home, life, garden and the ones you won't, both literally and philosophically.

Birds and Bees, Definitely.

Birds are welcome in any garden, not only because they are exquisitely beautiful or because they can sing prettily, but also because they are great pollinators and therefore important to the ecosystem.

Bees are also welcome in a garden because they are also pollinators, though you would do well to steer clear of them and take care to avoid being stung.

There are also birds and bees, philosophically speaking, in our every day lives. These are the people who play an integral role in our growth. These can be friends who are supportive, or colleagues and professional acquaintances, if you are an adult in the workplace, and peers if you are a teenager, who motivate you to strive to achieve your full potential. They draw out the best in you.

In this analogy, the birds of our lives might be more gentle and nurturing, more dependent on the power of suggestion and gentle prodding, while the bees will be those friends and acquaintances who will identify our potential and help us to work to achieve them, but who will not tolerate or excuse mediocrity.

A few Butterflies, maybe.

Butterflies are also welcome visitors in that they play an important role in the ecosystem. They are beautiful, their colorful wings are entrancing, and they are similarly drawn to the nectar of brightly colored and beautiful flowers. After feeding, they cross pollinate, carrying pollen from one plant to another and helping fruits and vegetables to grow.

Unfortunately, butterflies lay eggs, these eggs turn into caterpillars, and caterpillars can be a bit pesky when they get hungry.

In life, butterflies are those helpful friends and acquaintances who encourage your growth, but sometimes can be draining and they may be responsible for the introduction of other elements in your life that aren't so pleasant. These might be the people you used to like to hang out with. They're fun and they'd have your back if you needed them to, but there isn't much depth to your friendship and there may be times when it can feel like it's draining.

Caterpillars... not so much.

Interestingly, butterflies play an important role in the ecosystem because of their role in cross pollination while caterpillars, which are practically butterflies that haven't gotten their wings yet, can be a burden.

Caterpillars live to eat, and so they would eat every leaf in sight if they could, like free-loader friends. We can perhaps all identify at least a couple of them.

Blight, definitely not.

Blight is a fungus that would destroy everything if it could. No one wants blight in their garden, not even metaphorically.

In conclusion, my friends, you would find that it's the little things- as little as a tiny, disinterested lizard sunbathing one morning- that can be enough of an inspiration to help you to work through the relationships in your life that matters.

And so, my friends, I have only one question for you: if your life were a garden, what types of visitors would you welcome?