There is something so magical and old-fashioned about Morning Glories when they open just past sunrise. It’s as if they are ready to face the day. They’re not shy about their beauty. They grow bountifully along our garden fence and, one by one, unfold in a graceful dance as they rise from the stage floor and twirl into bloom like a dancer’s tulle skirt. What a way to begin each day!

Most mornings I feel like a Morning Glory. I awaken in a happy mood, open to the wonders of the day that await me. But my spirit refuses to abide by all the Morning Glory rules. When the sunshine threatens to burn these delicate blossoms, they close. They know what they must do to protect themselves. Unlike them, I remain open, vulnerable to wind, rain, and sun. My fragile edges feel every stimulus. So vulnerable. So unable to push away all that affects and impacts me.

My Morning Glory spirit wants several crucial things: belonging, safety, love, and as much sunshine as possible. But since life is fluid, things happen. My soul gets sandpapered like a weathered fence. A blog post begins its unrelenting journey from my soul to any surface where I can set down the words. The thoughts refuse to stop. Even when my Morning Glory self closes for respite, the words flow into sentences, paragraphs, and then an entire story. This is the birth of a blog post—the blessing and curse of a soul more vulnerable than soil in a spring rain.

But now it’s almost noon, and the beautiful blue Morning Glories have already closed. How lovely they still look, their pleated cusps so neatly folded inward toward their center. If only life could grant us that ability to protect ourselves from all that threatens to harm us. How I wish for that for us all.

Today my Morning Glory is tired. This past week my soul was sandpapered. But I’ve learned that while I can’t shutter my unprotected, exposed soul, I now know to love myself where it hurts. I meet myself where I am. The words and tears will flow, and then the healing will follow. That seems to be how nature created me. I am a Morning Glory that defies the rules, lives to love, and learns to become all I was meant to be. Every single day…