For those who find themselves facing writer’s block, WordPress offers a daily prompt as well as a weekly photo challenge to help bloggers find inspiration.
I’ve never pretended to be a photographer, but the final photo challenge of 2016 focused on the word “resilient” and immediately I knew I had the perfect photos to contribute to this challenge.
In the parking lot of the pretty little Baptist church in north Mississippi where my dad serves as interim pastor, every summer these hardy vincas push their way from underneath the surface of the parking lot, up between the concrete sidewalk and asphalt pavement, to turn their smiling faces triumphantly to the sun.
They struggle out of the darkness from underneath a seemingly impenetrable crushing weight, finding a way through the most solid of obstacles, to emerge looking serenely beautiful. And they make the world a brighter, more colorful place in the process. To me, these sweet summer flowers, going about the business of blooming where they are planted, are the very epitome of resilient.
If I resolve to be a bit more like these vincas in 2017, it wouldn’t be the worst New Year’s resolution I’ve ever made. Not by a long shot.