Messages from the Lenten Roses

Five Years in

Lenten season—though I no longer observe—arrives later this year. And so are my magenta Lenten Roses. Late. Still buds. See below.

My sister reminded me that my mother loved Lenten Roses, though I think Mother’s fascination with them was long after I was grown and gone. I vaguely remember the flowers—dark green leaves, dropping bell-like flowers, a blush of peach. But my own love for them began in 2021 deep into the pandemic. I planted the few, shown above, in my garden that spring.

During that February 2021 snow I took copious amounts of pictures of my neighbor’s Lenten Roses, flattened, frozen, and eventually as they began to spring back. I texted curated images of the frozen flat versions to my friend and her reply has stayed with me in the years since:

“They symbolize all of us dealing with the last year.”

“Apt words,” I wrote on my old blog following that 2021 snow. “Truth. Us—at times wilted under the weight of this virus. Then beginning to awaken to a new routine, finding our spine, rising upward. Coming into to a new normal, yet still weighted by the thing befallen us. Like the Lenten Roses, we will make it through, those of us fortunate enough to survive. May we receive the lessons and thrive.”

As the snow melted, the flowers regained their color and eventually rose from their frozen state.

We survived the worst of the pandemic and now many of us, again, are questioning our survival. This time, even more so, as a nation. As a world. Maybe the tight, un-blossomed buds hovering in the corner of my small garden are symbolic of this current now. We wait. Sometimes breath held. Wondering. How this will all turn out?

But, like art—the product from an artist’s hand and eye, or the art gifted all around via Mother Nature, and so much more—if our eyes and hearts are open, there is joy to be had. Figures in history and many minority cultures have taught us that we can bear the load of uncertainty and worse—and—also savor joy.

2025 Manifesto no. 3: Embrace Joy.

In closing, here’s a missive from “The Hope Department.” I always find wisdom in the words of Robert Reich. "Ten Reasons for Modest Optimism.”