The Volunteer Tulip
Spring is in the air and we have had some beautiful weather here in Kansas. One of the things that makes Kansas so special would be the weather and how quickly it can change. Recently living in Hutchinson I have been able to experience all sorts of different weather. Going from a 80 degree day to having snow on the ground the next morning can make life interesting. This change in weather can definitely keep us all on our toes.
Spring does not only bring on the weather, it also brings on the flowers. As plants and trees come out of winter dormancy color starts to come back to the land. The next thing you know you are walking through beautiful green grass and the trees are blooming. Flowers are also starting to appear giving little pops of color in the exciting sea of green.
Tulips are one of the many flowers that I have seen during this spring bloom. In fact I had one come up in my yard! I was excited to see this beautiful little flower that I did not plant but it was a pleasant surprise. I called it my volunteer tulip, and that was its name. When I would come home from class for the day I would stop by and take a moment to admire and see what my little volunteer tulip was up to. If I had water I would give it a little drink and everyday I noticed that my volunteer tulip didn’t look the same.
Why did the volunteer tulip looked different? What was going on with that? I would stop and wonder what was causing the tulip to change? During the school week the weather had much fluctuation. The week started off hot, switched to cold, and then ended with nice weather. The volunteer tulip adapted to each day. When it was super hot the tulip was fully bloomed with its petals expanding as far as they could. When it got cold the tulip closed up all the way, at this point I thought the flower was going to be finished and fall away. However when the weather became nice towards the end of the week the tulip was at a beautiful bloom with its petals not too far out but not too close in.
As we head fast into spring our schedule tends to pick up as well. We have more practices and events that call our name. This also means that we can have more deadlines as well. Having things spring into action can make us feel overwhelmed and feel like we are going to fall behind. Granted it is important to understand what our roads look like ahead sometimes we forget to focus on the now.
The volunteer tulip did not know what the weather was going to do throughout the week. However it took things one day at a time and made it through the week in beautiful colors. When I was thinking about this tulip, taking things one day at a time was the message it gave me. This message really hit home when my mother told me the exact same thing a few days later.
Spring is a great time to spring forward into action. It can be daunting to look at our whole schedule of deadlines both inside and outside of FFA. The best thing we can do is to do what we can now and take our lives one day at a time. That way we can fully live in the now and to be able to bloom in action just like our little volunteer tulip.
Stay Blooming Kansas FFA!
Sincerely,
Josey Schmidt
KS FFA State Sentinel