Linda knew her friend Gail had developed a green thumb, and she wanted to see the flower garden that Gail had grown. So Gail invited her over for a visit. “You need to plan to spend the afternoon and evening here though,” Gail said without explaining why.
The day they had arranged for the visit was clear and sunny. Linda arrived at Gail’s home, and her friend led her to the backyard. A large section of the yard featured a garden with paths of paver stones meandering through it. Beaming the entire time, Gail took Linda on a tour and talked about each species she was growing.
Back inside the house, Gail served dinner. “So what else did you want to show me?” Linda asked, but Gail told her she would need to wait for nightfall to find out.
When dusk had fully faded, Gail led the way back out into the garden. They picked their way carefully through the darkness of the moonless night. Gail approached a flower bed that she had somewhat glossed over earlier and turned on a soft lamp.
Linda gasped. Whereas this spot had before just held a patch of stalks and leafy tendrils, now it had erupted in a mass of beautiful blossoms. Linda saw orange, pink, violet, and blue petals all mixed together, as if a painter had splashed his brightest colors of paint on his canvas over and over.
“How do they do this? I thought flowers bloom only in the sunlight,” she said.
Gail smiled. “Most do. But these are a special kind of flower that blooms only when it’s dark. It’s inspiring. You can count on most flowers to bloom during the day when there is all kinds of light. But it takes a rare and special kind of flower to bloom when it’s darkest.”
Photo by Mohammed Ajwad on Pexels.com
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The Weekly Parable 