Flowers of Hope June 09
Approximately 100 people who had been bereaved in 2008 gathered at Totara Lodge in March, to participate in Part One of Flowers of Hope.
This involved planting some daffodil bulbs which they were able to take home. Part Two will be later in the year when they will gather once again to celebrate the flowering of the bulbs.
What is Flowers of Hope?
Primarily it is an opportunity to take part in a symbolic activity. Planting a bulb is an act of faith. We take something that looks dead and place it in the ground and wait. For some time it looks as it nothing is happening. But in the darkness of the earth it is a different story. Eventually, with the coming of spring our hope is rewarded with a vivid splash of colour and a vibrant expression of life.
The experience of death and of bereavement can be a bit like planting a bulb. Flowers of Hope symbolises a belief that with death, life for the person who has died, is changed not ended. The experience of bereavement can also feel like a part of us has died. Particularly in the early days and weeks following the funeral, life can feel like an empty, meaningless ‘going through the motions.’ However, with patience and commitment to the grieving process, life does return – never the same as it was, but life none the less.
This cycle of life-death-life seems to be written into the universe – the seasons, the waxing and waning of the moon, day-night-day. If this cycle is true for so much of nature, why would it be any different for us? As human beings we are an integral part of the natural world. Flowers of Hope
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