It was a Christmas gift from my boys, more than three years ago. An adorable birch wood pot, full of dirt and full of hope. It contained an Amaryllis bulb, one they knew I would be excited to grow. A flower of extravagant beauty, I was grateful to receive such a thoughtful gift. I kept the instructions and followed them faithfully. Soon after, the green foliage began to sprout above the dirt. As days passed and time progressed, the leaves continued to reach new heights… but a flower bud never appeared.

 

I nurtured that plant, loved it, reread how to care for it, but as spring approached, the green leaves started to fade as did my hope for seeing this flower bloom. I would have to try again later.

 

The following November, I started the process over again. And again, as the bulb started growing its beautiful leaves, my hopes were raised. And then, yet again, it never delivered the hope of a flower bud. Next time, I told myself…

 

This last year, I again brought out the bulb in late fall, but with less hope than the previous two years. Despite all of my best efforts, the bulb only delivered foliage.

 

As the leaves turned brown again, I gave up, placed the pot outside. I honestly never gave it a second thought, except early this spring when I considered tossing the bulb in my flower beds for the heck of it. Why not? Out of sight, out of mind, no more disappointments. Maybe if I left it only, then it would grow…

 

But I didn’t. I left the pot on the outdoor shelf on my patio, resigned to give it one more try again this fall.

 

Surprisingly, something I hadn’t anticipated happened. About a month ago, in mid July, I noticed a strange thing. The bulb, that was never-delivering, always-taunting, that bulb that was highly uncooperative… was growing new leaves. What?! I was a bit confused. So it was decided, along with our other outdoor garden plants, we would water it, just to see what would happen. What could it hurt, right?

 

It kept growing and, even more astonishing, this time there was a flower bud…

 

Three years of persisting, three years of disappointment, three years of confusion as to what went wrong, three years of doubt, three years of testing my patience…

 

It took three years to capture this photo.

 

The photo I took yesterday isn’t something I would necessarily deem exceptional, or worthy of such attention as I’ve given it. But the story, the journey to capturing the image? That, to me, is priceless.

 

The image is a reminder to persevere despite all odds, a reminder to never give up, to remain hopeful, despite what circumstances make me want to believe. It’s a reminder to persevere, even if it takes three years.

 

 

 

What challenges do you need to persevere through?