As a bit of trivia, the last three cards of the deck, the protea (and its theme of courage), chamomile (and its theme of patience) and the rose (and its theme of grace), were added after the original release of the Gratitude Blooming card deck.

The drawing of this rose for the theme of grace was made while I was immersed reading the poetry of Philip Whalen, a beat poet in San Francisco in the 1950s who was also involved with the Zen Center here in the city. In particular, the lines: 

“All of me that there is makes a shadow”, 

from his poem The Inspection of the Mind in June, caught my attention while the summer roses were in full bloom in my garden.

While drawing this rose and its intricate petals, I was thinking about how each petal, so perfect, casts its own unique shadow which is in part what makes a blooming rose so alluring. It made me wonder about the delicate balance between grace and shadow for me captured in those lines of poetry: “All of me that there is makes a shadow”.  One cannot exist without the other, but somehow in our own lives, it’s always easier to notice and try to avoid the shadow. 

What if the shadows we see could be like a constant reminder of the grace that makes up each of our lives? It’s like our rise into grace requires a leap of faith, a desire to believe or remember it, in the face of all the uncertainties we experience in life.

Grace feels like what is left when you strip down to the very core of who you are. But that stripping away of all attachments and expectations is no walk in the park. Sometimes it requires much suffering to get us there though I like to think that there are other ways (like reflecting or being reminded by looking at this rose drawing?!) to remember the grace within each of us.

It is a nice reminder from the last card of the deck, isn’t it? Can you see why we needed to add it?