Well, hello there. My name is Morgan Harper-Nichols. I'm an artist and a writer, and this is a space where I share words that I hope can make a little room for you to slow down and take a few deep breaths as you prepare for whatever lies ahead. Thanks for being here today. And now on to today's episode. Have you ever seen a flower bloom in an unexpected place?

Have you ever passed a field of wildflowers growing up inhibited by the world around them?

When we are thinking about the ways in which we would like to bloom in our own lives, perhaps wildflowers have something to teach us

about embracing grace in the waiting. Here is a poem I wrote about finding beauty in letting things grow how they were meant to.

The wonder of the wildflower is that no one sought out to plant them, and yet they grew anyway.

Out in the heels, they spring up when the timing is right, and somehow, amidst all of their different

colors and shapes, they seem to bloom together, exactly how they were meant to. No one questions

the wildflowers. No one wonders why they didn't spring up taller or faster or more blue or more yellow.

We just let them grow. We just let them be. When you are in a place of learning to grow,

I hope you can extend the same grace to the wildflowers of your heart. I hope you remember that these desires of yours don't have to be

perfectly planned out in order for them to bloom as vibrant as they were meant to. Oftentimes,

when we think of growing flowers, we may tend to think of gardens. Gardens require planning and daily attention, and yet there's that

open field an hour away where the daisies grow freely all on their own. Perhaps some of your

desires and dreams were meant to grow this way out in the wild. Perhaps your dreams of doing fulfilling work or

cultivating more meaningful relationships isn't something you can plan out perfectly. Perhaps these

desires need to grow out on their own over time and the best thing you can do is humbly watch and notice the little buds

as they spring up. Perhaps the best thing you can do is teach herself not to gather them before they

fully bloom. There is no need to rush. Let those flowers grow, how and when they are ready to.

There are some desires that will most likely need to grow in a garden. Paying off debt or writing that

novel will take some planning. And at the same time, there are all of these other desires

that will not fit into a perfect outline or spreadsheet.

Part of growing is learning to be okay with that.

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