Orange Blossoms...

It is that time again...they are in bloom and pretty much the entire valley smells like orange blossoms. It is Divine!

I was on a walk with my son last night and we walked past a tree in someone’s yard...the smell was intoxicating. I just stopped and smelled the blossoms. My son was kind of embarrassed as this was not what a “normal” person does according to him. Him not really being that much of a smeller...not his fault. His allergies are so bad most of the year that he can’t smell anything at all.

But even though my allergies are not great, I am lucky to be blessed with the sense of smell, especially at this time of year, living where I do.

My own trees are budding and will soon fill the backyard with the aroma that makes everything better to me. I know it might sound weird that the smell of orange blossoms on citrus trees, has the power to make anything better but it does. Try it...you will see.

And it marks where I am this Spring...in a rebirth cycle. Recently, I have had cause to examine my life and have come up more than a little short on some pretty important things. Not really things, but characteristics within myself. And this examination is causing me to see that I need to make some changes. Changes that are long overdue but are going to be painful as they are going to require that I change life long habits and behavior, which is never fun.

Next week I will be off work and am going to take the time to reflect on who and what I want to be and see where I can do better, be better. Not because I want to, but because my recent behavior has shown me that I have some pretty glaring defects that need to be addressed. And I have committed myself to a spiritual life...and that life requires that I do whatever work I must to continue moving toward whatever version of myself is needed now.

Amazing how one can move along through life, having one defect that controls all the others but seemingly goes unnoticed for years. Self examination misses this issue and so the behavior continues unchecked and unaddressed because the truth too painful to see.

But I am no longer there. I see it. It is like some sort of floating picture, that no matter how much I move my head...it is still right there in front of my face. I can no longer go around it, avoid it, pretend it isn’t there. It is almost all I can see right now...

But I get to examine it and ferret it out while the orange blossoms bloom. Their fragrance welcoming the burgeoning spring rebirth which feels perfect for wading through and among character defects. A moral spring house cleaning of sorts. And I get to do this while the blossoms fill the air with an aroma that is light and airy, providing a feeling of spaciousness, safety and kindness. I am not sure where I got the idea that a smell could have these attributes, but I do. The smell ushers in a feeling of safety and security that might not be present otherwise. To me orange blossoms smell like hope.

So with the rest of the world, I will endeavor to be reborn into some new version of myself while the orange trees sit idly by watching my rebirth into a newer, hopefully shinier version of myself. The trees seeming to know that rebirth takes a lot of courage and that all brave acts are better accomplished with the scent of orange blossoms...Thanks be to God.