Zygo Cactus

It is the day after Thanksgiving, black Friday as it is called in the Christmas shopping world, and time for the zygo (Christmas) cactus to be in bloom. This particular cactus, pictured, we have had for a year or two. We forgot what it was until recently when it started to bloom. Seeing the bright flowers we remembered that it bloomed at Christmas time. My wife said it was a Christmas cactus and she was right. Since it is in the original wrapping and pot I could see that its formal name is zygo cactus and it was from a nursery in Illinois. It was probably given to my wife as a Christmas gift at one point. But after it lost its flowers after Christmas we forgot what it was. Since it was still alive we just let in live in the Kitchen window.

For Thanksgiving I put it on the table of family and friends as a centerpiece. To me it is a reminder of how sometimes we take for granted beauty and life close to us, especially persons. When they bloom or on a special occasion we are awake to see how special they are. Sometimes I think the closer we are to a person the more we take them for granted and see just the plant and not the flowering cactus and beautiful life they are. When there is a crisis or at certain event we may wake up and see the flower in front of us.

Waking up is what the season of Advent, week before Christmas, is all about. We need to ‘wake up’ to see the beauty born constantly around us. Maybe black Friday, when many businesses go into the black, is a good time for the Christmas cactus to bloom and for us to wake up and be ready.

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