{"id":205053,"date":"2022-02-14T12:00:46","date_gmt":"2022-02-14T12:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=205053"},"modified":"2022-02-13T07:45:01","modified_gmt":"2022-02-13T07:45:01","slug":"the-lotus-flower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2022\/02\/the-lotus-flower\/","title":{"rendered":"The Lotus Flower"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/lotus-flower.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-205054\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/lotus-flower-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/lotus-flower-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/lotus-flower.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Through dirty mud, the lotus flower emerges<br \/>\nTied to spirituality, the sacred lotus flower<br \/>\nexudes divinity, is a symbol of beauty and spirituality.<br \/>\nIn the murky mud and mire,<br \/>\nThe mud of adversity<br \/>\nLike a deep dark secret, she unfolds in uncertainty.<br \/>\nThe lotus breaks forth.<br \/>\nEach petal perfectly formed<br \/>\nDespite growing in a polluted pond.<br \/>\nThe lotus bears a strong bond.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">In dark and despairing times, the lotus grows<br \/>\nTo become so pure, despite having tangled shoots.<br \/>\nUnderneath her roots<br \/>\nThere is pain, there is agony, there is gloom.<br \/>\nBecome like the lotus.<br \/>\nWhich still manages to bloom.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Let light sprout amidst the pain and the darkness.<br \/>\nOvercome the negativity, the pain, the imperfection.<br \/>\nThe lotus floats yet does not sink.<br \/>\nGive this time to think.<br \/>\nDon\u2019t despise the pain, the conflict and hurt.<br \/>\nRemember the lotus in full bloom.<br \/>\nUsed as God`s own seat.<br \/>\nFor His divine feet.<\/p>\n<p>_____________________________________<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Usha-Roopnarain-e1623990401501.jpeg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-186568\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Usha-Roopnarain-e1623990401501.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" \/><\/a>Dr Usha Roopnarain \u2013 Former parliamentarian in the National Assembly of South Africa, social activist and passionate about human rights and gender equality.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Through dirty mud, the lotus flower emerges<br \/>\nTied to spirituality, the sacred lotus flower<br \/>\nexudes divinity, is a symbol of beauty and spirituality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":205054,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[182],"tags":[868,805],"class_list":["post-205053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry-format","tag-poetry","tag-spirituality"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}