As mentioned also in the vulnerability story, the rose appears three times in the Gratitude Blooming cards. In the past, our team called this rose the spring rose in part because it seemed to be just beginning to bloom. And the word that came with it - c h o i c e - seems almost like a springtime word.  ‘Choice’ feels full of possibility and is both empowering and daunting in its connection to our own nature, free will and intention that ultimately gets expressed through the choices we make.  

Sometimes the word that comes with a plant in these Gratitude Blooming drawings arises out of something I didn’t see or notice until after I finished drawing it. It reminds me of how much I felt like a channel for the messages from these plants to come through.  

I drew this rose exactly as I saw it based on a cutting from a rose bush from our garden. I added the word choice after I drew it because when I drew it, I could really FEEL the fork in the stem. The closer I looked, it was like there were two roads diverging - one leading to the blooming flower and the other leading to a path of thorns and leaves with a single rose hip and no flower at the end.

And maybe that is a lesson for us when we arrive at those moments in our lives where there is a clear divergence of paths - all we can really do is make the best, intentional choice in the moment, and then recognize the beauty and miracles of the path our feet land on.

And I believe that the more trust we can have that our choices are aligned to who we really are, the miracle of where we land over time can feel even bigger.