Living the Backgrounds of Our Life

"There are two parts to the common day — the performance of the day, and the background of the day. Many of us are so submerged in the work we do and in the pride of life that the real day slips by unnoted and unknown. But there are some who part the hours now and then and let the background show through. There are others who keep the sentiments alive as an undertone and who hang all the hours of work on a golden cord, connecting everything and losing none: theirs is the full life; their backgrounds are never forgotten; and the backgrounds are the realities.

The joy of flowers is of the backgrounds. It lies deeper even than the colors, the fair fragrances, and the graces of shape. It is the joy of things growing because they must, of the essence of winds woven into a thousand forms, of a prophetic earth, and of wonderful delicateness in part and substance. The appeal is the deeper because we cannot analyze it, nor measure it by money, nor contain it in anything that we make with our hands. It is too fragile for analysis." ~Liberty Hyde Bailey Jr., The Garden Lover, Chapter: Blossoms, 1928

Bailey reminds us that there is more to life than what's on the surface. The chapter titled "Blossoms" invites us to consider the deeper details of our days rather than the fleeting productiveness of work or overall busyness.

Humans as a whole have a tendency to move through our days without noticing the real things of life. Hours flash by and the only thing we've achieved is the duties set at the beginning of the day. But what about the pauses? What about, quite literally, stopping to smell the roses? "Part the hours now and then and let the background show through." Bailey has a great ideal about how the small moments can thread together into a more meaningful whole.

Liberty Hyde Bailey uses flowers as a symbol for the background of this reality. Their presence isn't just about the look of the petals, the sweet smell, or the form. The true joy is the mystery of the growth itself. How the wind shaped the curve of the stem, or shaped the dirt of it's base to give it the nutrition the flower needs. In this theory, the flowers remind us that the true value of wealth isn't found in the money compensated from achievements or possession, but in the silent sounds of creation. They make us wonder about the extremely fragile beauty in all things just simply because they must exist.

In this idea, blossoms are more than decorations. They are the subtle truths woven into the fabric of reality. Waiting for us to pause long enough to see them.