Floral calculus,
beautiful geometry,
beckoning the heart.
Amongst the gifts from my grandfather who grew championship begonias, and from my father who showed me how to take cuttings, propagate and care for pot plants, is an appreciation for flowers. And from my childhood roaming Ayrshire farms and fields a familiarity that has never bred contempt for flowers wherever they grow. When Jesus said consider the lilies of the field it wasn't mere metaphor (if metaphors ever are merely 'mere'). Jesus was urging careful attention to beauty's detail, theological imagination to live with the delicate tension of accident and providence, and the contemplative logic of faith - if such prodigal beauty is God's gift to the world, "how much more" God's prodigal love for all he has made, including me.
So when I photograph a flower, I capture a moment of attentive gratitude, of theological imagination, of contemplative logic that when all are combined, become a wordless prayer of praise to God for beauty. To look at a flower, to really look, is to see and hear within, one of those elusive intimations of what makes us human, and capable of finding in beauty that which both breaks and heals the heart. Alongside the beauty of holiness, is the beauty that creates the longing for it.
You're welcome to write your own Haiku in the Comments. The photos were taken while on a day retreat with our College Staff.
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