Whatever is placed in your hand, be it skill, talent, relationship, love, your children or spouse, is a flower that needs tender nurturing. Where you fail to nurture it, it dies. Dead things are dead. Most things don’t die suddenly, they start gradually, and little by little they wilt until they dry up and die.
Nurturing anything requires attention and intentionality. You have to put in the time and the work and walk as well. Yes mobility, there is no growth when you sit tight in your comfort zone, whatever you feed your time, focus and energy, grow.
Love, in particular, is an exotic and fragile flower that demands care, dedication, and commitment to flourish in a relationship.
As I write in a poem, “Love is a beautiful feeling to have, a precious gift to share, a rare treasure, and a priceless jewel to cherish forever.” In another poem, I also write, “It takes two to walk in love. It takes two to work at love. It takes two to agree about love. It takes two to exercise love.”
Couples are flowers planted in the marriage garden and if planted on good soil with adequate nurturing from the partners, they flourish.
My story, The Withered Flower, in We Rise! An Anthology of Women’s Voices is a story of love left to wither because of a man’s egoistic tendencies.
A man who wants to prove that He is the head of the family and SHE must submit to his instruction. Of course, she did, she wanted a peaceful home, a happy home.
However, a submission must be met with a corresponding measure of love from the man for balance to exist. As the Bible says, “Husbands, love your wives. Wives, submit to your husbands.”
When Sandra realises her submission is taken for granted and makes her worth nothing more than a decorative flower and a trophy wife to a man who never appreciates her—a man who makes her feel insignificant- a man who disregards her feelings and career ambitions—she knows it's time to prioritise her life, career, and happiness over her marriage.
As her marriage hits rock bottom, she moves out of her matrimonial home. Though she is ready to move back in and start afresh. But the question remains: Is her husband, Joseph, willing to discard his inflated ego and jealousy, meet her demands, and give their marriage a second chance?
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