New Growth

The other day when walking around my yard,
I had to stop to truly see what was happening with my Forsythia bush.
For you see, when the virus was just a vicious rumor,
We had a yard work day where we gave a "hair cut" to every bush and shrub around the house.
In the case of this one, it was more like a buzz cut, as we chopped it down to the bare minimum.

As I stood over it,
Marveling at the new growth,
I couldn't help but compare it to where we are at right now.
The virus has cut short every plan we had in our schedule.
It has pared down our lives to just the essentials needed to survive.
But, I just have to wonder how our new growth will look when this is over.
As some fret and worry over the economy and upcoming mutated viruses,
I can take a step back and trust that there is growth woven into this tapestry of fixed schedules.
What will emerge as priorities after this all passes?
As we recover, what healing will have taken place in our hearts? Our minds?

For just like this forsythia bush,
If you didn't trust it would bloom again,
All you would see is an ugly representation of what used to be.
So as I anticipate the sprouting of new life for this old friend,
I rest in a peace that the same will be true for us after the virus,
that pruned our lives down to the most basic of elements,
moves on.