There’s an old story about a rose whose petals slowly fell one by one, as time slipped by.
Every petal that fell from the rose was a reminder that opportunities do not last forever.
That no matter how many chances someone is given to make things right, to grow, to love differently, or to try and repair the damage that’s been caused, eventually there comes a moment when there are no petals left.
Not because time was unfair, but because it had been spent refusing to change.
Life has a way of working much the same.
Every choice plants a seed.
Every lie, every betrayal, every act of kindness, or every moment of integrity becomes part of the harvest waiting somewhere ahead.
We often think consequences arrive suddenly, but they rarely do.
Karma is not about revenge; it is about cause and effect.
It's about understanding that what we repeatedly choose will eventually shape the life we are forced to live. And just like the rose, there comes a point when the time for excuses ends, and all that remains is the truth of what we have sown.
The truth is that if you break things that shouldn't be broken, or you twist things that shouldn't be twisted, you can't expect what you did to not bounce back at you again at some point later on down the track.
There are always consequences for your actions in one form or another.
Sometimes those consequences are instant, other times it can take a series of events that may occur over a number of years, but of which was triggered by what you did originally.
If you do the wrong thing or you walk away from being accountable, don't think that someone's silence means you're out of the woods.
Don't think that just because you haven't heard from them lately that you've gotten away with it, because you haven't.
Reaping the fruits of whatever seeds you've planted is something that no one escapes from, so be careful of what seeds you plant.
It's always going to be better to have the humility to do the right thing, to be accountable, and to at least try and make things better, no matter how hard that might be, and no matter how much pride your ego needs to swallow; because that's going to end up being a whole lot better than having any potential alternative constantly hanging over your head.
The rose is a symbol of hope; the petals falling are the warnings.
Roses don't live forever and one day, the last petal will inevitably fall.
Karma isn't the falling petal; it's reaching the end and realising you had every opportunity to choose differently, so be remembered for the good you chose, and not the chances you wasted.
Time is running out…
~ Mark Smith