A playful celebration of the unexpected delights that make us exquisite.
Why Should She?
Why should Rosa rugosa apologize for Her thorns when they are as much a part of Her exquisite nature as Her blossoms? I’ve been contemplating Rosa rugosa and what an interesting character She is. She arrives with beautiful exquisite blossoms, fills the air with Her fragrance, and seems perfectly happy to let the world admire Her beauty. Yet anyone who has reached a little too enthusiastically toward one of Her flowers knows that She has another side entirely.
I love that about Her.
There is something amusing about the way we humans try to make sense of our different qualities. We seem to expect ourselves to be entirely consistent. Yet we can be wonderfully patient until the smallest inconvenience tests us. We can adore the company of others and still long for an afternoon alone. We can be sensible about a hundred things, then become delightfully unreasonable about something that has captured our hearts.
How lovely that we are not nearly as predictable as we imagine.
A Little Wildness Belongs Here, Too
Rosa rugosa has never struck me as a flower particularly interested in being delicate at all times. She can flourish along windswept coastlines, tolerate salty air, and produce blossoms of extraordinary beauty in places where plants might struggle. Her leaves have a distinctive texture, her stems are generously armed with prickles, and her flowers eventually give way to those wonderfully plump rose hips.
She is not one beautiful thing. She is an entire collection of qualities, each contributing something to the life She expresses.
I think there is a delightful freedom in appreciating ourselves with that same generosity. We may love the softer qualities of our nature, the tenderness we feel toward someone dear, the pleasure of creating a beautiful and peaceful home, or the quiet satisfaction of caring for something that matters to us. Yet there are other qualities that deserve our affection, too. Our determination, our curiosity, our occasional stubbornness, and even those peculiar little preferences that make absolutely no sense to anyone else.
But then, why should they make sense to anyone? These are your unique qualities, the very things that make you exquisitely YOU.
I have come to appreciate how often the most interesting parts of a person are the ones that don’t fit neatly into a description.
There is the woman who can make an important decision with remarkable confidence yet spend an extraordinary amount of time choosing just the right shade of blue. The woman who delights in elegant surroundings but is happiest with her hands in the garden. The woman who has learned to appreciate quiet, unhurried mornings and still feels an irresistible excitement when an entirely new possibility appears.
Perhaps you recognize a little of yourself in one of them.
The Pleasure of Being a Little Unexpected
One of the pleasures of living is discovering that we are still capable of surprising ourselves. We may find an unexpected enthusiasm for something we once overlooked, recognize a quality that has quietly developed over the years, or laugh at how confidently we once declared that we would never do a particular thing.
Life has a charming way of remembering those declarations, and perhaps there is a little feminine wisdom in discovering that we are free to change our minds.
I think of the many versions of ourselves that have accompanied us through different seasons of life. Some qualities have remained familiar, while others have emerged through experiences we could never have anticipated. There are parts of our nature that become more pronounced with age, others that soften, and a few that seem to have been waiting patiently for the right moment to make themselves known.
There is something quite beautiful about allowing ourselves to be surprised by our own nature.
Rosa rugosa offers a lovely reminder of this through the changing expressions of Her life. Her blossoms are exquisite, but so are the rose hips that follow. Her beauty is not confined to the moment when Her petals are open, nor does Her character disappear when the season changes. There is always more to appreciate than what first catches our eye.
An Exquisite Collection of Contradictions
I sometimes think we spend far too much time trying to decide which parts of ourselves are the most acceptable, the most attractive, or the most worthy of being seen. Yet some of the qualities we might consider contradictory are precisely what make us interesting.
We can be affectionate and fiercely independent, enjoying familiarity while still longing for discovery. We can be thoughtful, sensible women who occasionally do something wonderfully spontaneous simply because the experience delights us.
I hope we never lose that spark.
There is room within one life for tenderness and determination, elegance and wildness, wisdom and playfulness. We don’t need to choose one quality to represent the whole of who we are, any more than we would ask Rosa rugosa to offer only Her petals and leave the rest of Herself behind.
This is what I’ve come to appreciate most about Her.
Not that She has something to teach us about becoming a better version of ourselves, but that there is already so much to admire in Her extraordinary nature when we take the time to appreciate all of who She is.
I find that thought rather inspiring.
We may spend our lives discovering new interests, changing our perspectives, and encountering qualities within ourselves that we never expected to find. Along the way, we can enjoy the pleasure of being wonderfully, occasionally unpredictably, and quite exquisitely ourselves.
After all, a rose would be a rather different flower without Her thorns.
I suspect we would be, too. It’s lovely to imagine all the little surprises still waiting for us. New pleasures, unexpected discoveries, and those delightful moments when life reveals another beautiful side of who we are.
Until we meet again, may you find a little beauty in the unexpected and the pleasure of discovering something wonderful along the way.
With love and a little wonder … from a small village in France
Jubetsy
Listen to this week’s collection
This journal entry is woven into this week’s episode of An Invitation Within. It sits alongside my letter for the collective, our teacher from nature, Rosa rugosa, and the threads I’ve shared throughout the week. Together, they become one message, shared in my own voice. The episode goes live on October 21st.
