12 Hours to Live

In late January, I decided to plant some flowers in the planter we have outside our door. I have had fair success in my previous attempts to have a garden, but figured since I was following the directions exactly, this just may work. Of course, I was very diplomatic when picking the flowers I wanted for the spring. I picked the ones I thought were the prettiest. So to my surprise and excitement I saw the signs of the new life a few weeks later. I watered them daily. I even pinned strings for the vines to grow on to so they would not attach to the building itself. Each morning I wrapped and guided the vines onto the strings. I was quite proud because all of this work seem to pay off.

Just last week, we had our first flower. I woke up one morning before we headed to church to find that a single flower bloomed and was beautiful. I couldn't wait for more. That afternoon when we returned, it was shriveling up. I started ranting and raving about the bugs and other varmints that must be attacking my hard work. Needless to say, the flower didn't make it. The next morning, my anger was subsided because I had two beautiful flowers blossoming. Late that night, they too shriveled up and died.

Now I know these flowers are called Morning Glories, but I thought that was because they bloomed in the morning, closed in the evening, only to reopen the next morning. Nope! The life span of a morning glory flower is only one morning. I had no idea. That is, until I googled Morning Glories.

This got me thinking though. Is it really worth it to put so much work into something that is only going to live for 12 hours? I was tempted to stop watering. Then I looked at these precious flowers and decided that it was essential. They only had 12 hours, but they were so beautiful for those 12 hours. Also, during that time they are being pollinated by bees, humming birds, butterflies and other insects. This is helping life beyond that little flower on my front porch.

So I continue to water, wrap on vines, and take pictures of these temporary sensations while I ponder, what am I going to do in the next 12 hours.