Photo was taken on the Lee Road yesterday, Cork (Irl)

Lots of heavy rain over the weekend meant the River Lee was in full flow yesterday. But as it comes in at the weir on the Lee Road, some of it is directed to provide water for the city. It was particularly striking yesterday one river flowing with great force and the other much more gently.

Thought on Monday – May – 09/05/2011

‘Many of us look at ourselves and see only the thorns, the defects. We despair, thinking that nothing good can possibly come from us. We neglect to water the good within us and eventually it dies. We never realise our potential.’ ~Author Unknown

There is a story told about a certain man who planted a rose and watered it faithfully and before it blossomed he examined it. He saw that the bud would soon blossom but also saw the thorns. He thought: “How can any beautiful flower come from a plant burdened with so many sharp thorns?” Saddened by this thought, he neglected to water the rose and before it was ready to bloom, it died. Sadly this story can happen with us too. I’m not sure is it inbuilt in our human nature, but we tend to see the thorns so easy, particularly in ourselves. In our Gospel stories it is easy to see how Jesus recognised the thorns in everyone’s story. But carefully and lovingly he always saw beyond the thorns to the flower. Most importantly he encouraged each person to see beyond the outer thorns to the great beauty within each person. There is a great hunger and need for more of this today. We need to nurture and celebrate everything good that’s within each of us. This needs to be done, not occasionally but every single today. If we find this difficult then maybe a simple prayer might be to ask God to help us see the good that lies within.