Inspiration.....

"Where flowers bloom so does hope."
--Lady Bird Johnson

Behind my house there is a vast network of hiking trails and open space that winds through the Colorado foothills.

I try to go back there at least once a week, provided that the trail is navigable after all of our spring rain.

With so much rain, our wildflowers have come early.

The green fields are alive with lush color and beautiful blooms that range from lemon yellows to vibrant orange to cheerful purples and reds.

It is these colors that make me want to immediately go into the studio, refreshed and alive in nature's gift! It is this beautiful landscape of fragility and fire that inspire me to let go and transform myself.

In the past, I've underestimated the way in which a walk in the woods takes all of my burdens and lightens my load.

I leave my little bundles of worry and fear along the trail, picking up instead the hope of tomorrow. I leave behind, like some kind of unspoken sacrifice, the anxiety and personal struggle and instead allow myself to become awash in optimism and awe at the miracle of life.

Flowers remind me of the delicacy of life and of the strength of spirit.

Despite rain and toil, bad weather or good, year after year they still find a place in the ground and emerge and thrive. This takes a great deal of determination in some years!

Lately things have just been really difficult for me. Like a flower, I am struggling to find my place amidst a great deal of change and challenge.

I am trying to allow love to come in and shine on me, and help me grow!

But while this struggle is so difficult and harrowing at times, I know that like these blooms that emerge from rocky, unhospitable ground every year, I too will emerge with more vibrant color and beauty.

I will return to arid ground and make it fertile. I will put down new roots, lift my head to the sun and whisper to the sky, "let me grow."