When life gives you thorns …
“Lift your hands toward the holy place, and praise the Lord.” Psalms 134:2

When life gives you thorns …
“One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today.” ~ Dale Carnegie

When life gives you thorns …
“A single rose can be my garden… a single friend, my world.” ~ Leo Buscaglia

When life gives you thorns …
“Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns; I am thankful that thorns have roses. ” ~ Alphonse Karr

Lo, How the Rose Enduring

Mystifying, life defying,
Wrapped inside the
deadly piercing.
Delicate, yet
Strong emerging.
Not weathered torn.

But …

Beauty dazzling,
Lightly rising,
Fragile petals,
buds reach praising,
Inside eye
of dreadful storm.

Shall we fare less
inside our thorn?

“When life gives you thorns, grow roses.” ~ Alexandria Sage

I marvel at the rose, how that beauty thrives with the near clutches of thorns. The life of this fluorescent beauty doesn’t just ho-hum grow up. It is pricked by those thorns it’s entire existence, yet it not only thrives, it blooms. Delicate and bold. Tough and tender.
As life pricks us, may we learn to grow–not hardened by hardship–but strong, malleable, generous, kind, compassionate–the qualities of true beauty.
Peace,
Alexandria

Poem by yours truly. 🙂
Photos taken with Nikon D60 with AF-S Nikkor lens 18-55 mm. No post-processing, editing, or cropping.  It’s the same rose, different views.
Perspective matters, doesn’t it?

Related Articles:
Weekly Photo Challenge: Endurance
yi-chin ling: much of enough comes
The Silver Leaf Journal: The Struggle to Endure