Begonias appear to be indefatigable bloomers. They are easy to grow and produce flowers from spring to frost. They do well in a variety of conditions and need little to thrive.
I highly value independence, yet there are times in our lives when we are naturally dependent on others.
It’s normal to feel apprehensive when we step up to care for others because of the enormous weight we take on when we do.
We need to be almost indefatigable in our search for support within our culture while caring for ourselves as well as others.
In our society, we’ve become masters at being obsessed about extending life and at the same time have pulled back on supports that create the capacity for that to happen in a humane fashion. We focus on quantity of years over quality.
We must remember that we are not, in and of ourselves, indefatigable.
Hope, love and faith are indefatigable. I think about the Beatles song “Let It Be”: When I find myself in times of trouble/Mother Mary comes to me/Speaking words of wisdom/Let it be. I read that the songwriter Paul McCartney was not referring to the Blessed Mother but his own mother, whose name was Mary and who died when he was a young boy.
Let it be means to relax, let go and not worry about your troubles but to accept the difficult things that have happened that we cannot change.
When I look at my begonias, they give me words of comfort.
Yet, I also am aware that begonia translates to “be aware.” The message engendered in this bloom is more of a compassionate watchfulness of a guardian angel than the fear of expecting the worst. The begonia reminds us we can face things.
The comfort of the begonia allows you see that to be human is to be fatigable—and not pathologically independent. We can see that, like the begonia, we still need sunlight and the nutrients of the soil.
Through the message of the begonia we can see there are not enough social structures in place that could ever support you in being indefatigable. Begonias are a call to contemplate the weakness or strength of our social structures.
The enchanting blooms of the begonia remind us we can face difficult times when we face them together.
The Begonia Affirmation: Together, we gather our hope, faith and love as we face difficult times.
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