Finding the sun

Today I noticed my new shamrock (which has happened to get quite a bit of blog press here in the past few days) leaning desperately on the windowsill to get any trace of available sun on this very gray and chilly spring day. I've always loved plants that reach for and move towards the sun. I find it so amazing and alive that some plants physically move themselves or their position to get every inch of precious sunlight that they can. Never mind the fact that the sun hasn't shown its face once today; clouds were far too thick to allow that to happen. But my little shamrock could feel some trace of warmth and craned its slender little necks towards the light and the warm. It didn't ever find the sun, but that didn't stop it from searching.

My little shamrock reminds me of how I wish I was and of how I try (more often than not, unsuccessfully) to be. Too often I focus on the gloom at hand. The grey clouds, the seemingly endless cold, the distance between myself and those I love, the annoying driver in front of me, the frustrating colleague or parent ... the every day troubles that darken my skies. I too easily forget to crane my neck to see the joy in my world and to feel the warmth of the goodness that surrounds me. It sometimes takes some effort to find even a glimmer of it, but it is always there. It may be hidden behind some thick and ominous clouds, but the sun is indeed there.

Its especially hard in times like these when there truly is a lot of BAD happening in the world. The devastation that is happening in Japan, the state of American education, the level of poverty and unemployment in the US as well as abroad ... there really is a lot of BAD going on. It's too easy to focus on the grey and gloom and become overwhelmed, desperate, and depressed. No matter what the situation, there is some sun somewhere. No matter how faint the rays or how hard you have to search, it is there. Somewhere. We just have to remember to look for it.

It's pretty amazing what we can learn from plants.

Can you tell where the window is?