Graceful Change - Non-climbing Clematis, Missoula, Montana

 “All human nature vigorously resists grace because grace changes us and change is painful.” -Flannery O’Connor (1925-1964), from The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O'Connor

Coneflower Center - Missoula, Montana

“Christianity is full of paradoxes and this is one of the strangest. When we are centered in God alone, we are able to relate to more of life and the world, and find more meaning in them. In some way a centered life becomes wider and fuller. To form one's life around this single perspective enables us to deal with more problems, not fewer, embrace more of life, not less of it. One reason is that we're not so divided, overwhelmed or bogged down by trivia and confusion.”

― Sue Monk Kidd, God's Joyful Surprise: Finding Yourself Loved

Centered, Missoula, Montana

I've been compelled to stop and stare into the center of this rose every day since bouquet delivery on Monday.  Very distracting. I literally walk by, return, pause, gaze - forcibly snap out of it, back to work - why was I headed this way? All the other blooms are lovely, but they fade to mere peripheral  blurs.  It's not that it's perfect - you can see the slight blemishes. Rather, something of character mesmerized me - the swirling, unfurling of completeness, at its very apogee.  Gazing into it kind of makes me feel something similar to the banketing peace gained by gazing out at the ocean or a wind-rippling grain field. (Insert happy sigh.)