"Are you blooming?"

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A heavy frost fell on our farm for several nights in a row. The temperatures plunged below freezing for over a week. It was our first cold snap of the fall and we were all trying to adjust to it…

…except for this one rose bush in our backyard. Somehow, this bush didn’t get the word that it was time to stop blooming, because it kept on blooming. One bloom at a time appeared on the bush, each one perfectly shaped; its resplendent colors bursting on your eye against the gray-brown backdrop of the yard.

And as each bloom emerged, I cut it at just the right time, brought it inside my office, put it in a vase, and marveled as it continued to unfold its beauty. Who would have thought it—a rose bloom in freezing temperatures!

Sometime in the New Year the world around you will get cold and you will feel like quitting. But like this rose, be persistent, persevere, put on your best face, brave the cold, and bloom in the midst of adversity. Your beauty unfolds and blesses you and the people around you as you make a life, not just a living.

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