An unknown author captures the sentiment of what it feels like to be a change agent by comparing it to a crocus at the start of spring. The poem conveys this challenge:
It takes courage to be crocus-minded.
I’d rather wait until June like wise roses,
when the hazards of winter are safely behind and I’m expected.
Everything is ready for roses, but crocuses?
Knifing up through hard-frozen ground and snow,
sticking their necks out,
because they believe in spring and
have something personal and emphatic to say about it.
I am by nature rose-minded,
even when I have studied the situation
and know there are wrongs that need righting,
affirmations that need stating –
Well, I’d rather wait until June.
But somebody has to care enough
to think through and work through hard ground
because she believes she can do it
and knows there is someone greater than herself
to help her break through.
Me? Crocus-Minded?
I pray for courage.
It is always easier to let someone else go first; to allow them to forge the path and create a more conducive environment for growth, but, like crocuses, hardiness is required for those who wish to impact change.
Do you have the courage it takes to be crocus-minded – to persist even in the face of adversity – to go first and push through frozen ground to achieve growth? Use the spring blossom as a metaphor to remind yourself that it is worth the effort to be that burst of color in the snow.
