2021 was a difficult year for many reasons.

Looking forward to 2022 – I personally feel it’s time for a change.

However, I think we can all agree that change can sometimes be difficult.  

One of my favorite poems (I’ve posted this before) from Paul Lewis Dunbar sums up this idea:

Sympathy 

Of course it hurts when buds burst.
Otherwise why would spring hesitate?
Why would all our fervent longing be bound in the frozen bitter haze?
The bud was the casing all winter.
What is this new thing, which consumes and bursts?
Of course it hurts when buds burst,
pain for that which grows
and for that which envelops.

Of course it is hard when drops fall.
Trembling with fear they hang heavy,
clammer on the branch, swell and slide –
the weight pulls them down, how they cling.
Hard to be uncertain, afraid and divided,
hard to feel the deep pulling and calling,
yet sit there and just quiver – hard to want to stay
and to want to fall.

Then, at the point of agony and when all is beyond help,
the tree’s buds burst as if in jubilation,
then, when fear no longer exists,
the branch’s drops tumble in a shimmer,
forgetting that they were afraid of the new,
forgetting that they were fearful of the journey –
feeling for a second their greatest security,
resting in the trust that creates the world.

But change is necessary for growth.

The experts say, “Don’t be shy about pruning rose bushes.” A healthy rose bush can bounce back from even a quite severe pruning. 

Cut back the remaining canes to one to two feet from the ground. While the first year will be a recovery year for growth, a “hard” pruning typically stimulates plenty of flowers in successive years.

Sometimes, life is like that.  You have to make a hard decision to prune away the unnecessary so you can move forward and blossom.

I’m going to keep this in mind so I can ensure that 2022 will be a year for growth. Happy New Year.