“No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.” – Paulo Coelho
When we finally hear our soul speaking to us and know that we must care for the flickering light within, we are ready to continue walking our path. Even if the path requires us to have the courage to change; we will be at peace. Our soul will nurture us and provide flowers in our path.
“Every flower is a soul blossoming in nature.” – Gerard de Nerval
“Change and growth take place when a person has risked himself and dares to become involved with experimenting with his own life.” – Herbert A. Ott
“There is no chance, no destiny, no fate, that can circumvent or hinder or control the firm resolve of a determined soul.” – Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Each year doves come and build their next in this tree. High winds, rain storms or just the precarious positioning of the nest cause the nest to fall year after year. The doves do not give up. Their resilience has them coming back year after year to build their new nest. May we each have such fortitude, determination and unending perseverance to achieve what we set out to do.
“Might I, ” quavered Mary, “might I have a bit of earth?” “Earth!” he repeated. “what do you mean?” “To plant seeds in – to make things grow – to see them come alive.” – Frances H. Burnett, The Secret Garden
As I drink in the beauty of the flowers around our home and see the daily changes that take place with each flower, I’m in awe of the miracle God created. For years, I looked at the flowers, saw how pretty and colorful they looked and moved on. It was so easy to give that nod of acknowledgement because life was going so fast. Now I’ve learned, taking the time to be grateful for the simple miracles soothes my soul.
What do you think of this plant? Your reaction may be to say something like, it’s nice, it’s a plant or it’s odd with the stem sticking out. Some may even say, why are you wasting my time writing about this plant. Funny, on other days, I may have had the same reactions or thoughts.
Well, let me tell you about this plant. Last week while returning a purchase to Home Depot with my husband, I came across this plant. I was immediately drawn to it. I though, passed it by because I know priorities and this plant was not one of them. While in queue, the plant was still on my mind. I had to go look at it again.
I looked at each of the plants and I especially took notice of those with the stem growing from the middle. The changing feelings and emotions welled within me. I had to take this plant home. I had to have it. It didn’t matter that I certainly didn’t need another plant, or that this was not what I walked out the door to buy. It may have been a silly frivolous purchase but to me the dollar value could not be assigned.
Why all the fuss, the emotion? Well for me, this plant took me back to another time. I had a plant just like this one. It was among a group of plants, but this plant was by far the smallest, the size of my thumb. This little plant out of all the others, just kept surviving; so small yet it held on and grew. It doubled in size and then it doubled in size again. Then to my surprise, a stem grew out of the top of the plant.
I called my dad to let him know that this special little plant had another plant growing from a stem that grew from its middle. I was absolutely thrilled. Of course my dad knew all about my plants so he too shared my excitement.
You see at that time, I was on my own and I loved growing plants. I had a window filled with plants and then over time, my living room became a hot house. The lighting was perfect for growing plants. I would spend hours caring for them and re-potting them when needed. I began to give away plants just to bring some smiles.
This particular plant was one of my favorites because it was a survivor. I could separate the plant at the bottom; additional plants would grow out from the sides of the plant and each time a stem grew, another one or two baby plants grew from the top. I actually visited as many garage sales and flea markets as I could in search of pretty pots. My aunt visited garage sales and flea markets by her home and gave me the pots she collected.
Soon my friends, family and colleagues had plants from me. I then branched out. When consultants came to work on projects with my team, I gave them plants. I gave anyone that mentioned they like plants, one of their own. Hours upon hours of joy were spent with these plants.
When I married, my parents helped us move; they took the plants with them. My father loved all the plants,. Since our townhouse didn’t have the room or the lighting for all the plants, my dad kept them. Then sadness struck, he passed on. Either to rid herself of the hurt or just not wanting to spend the time, my mom threw all the plants away.
When I visited, I saw the plants were no longer in their spots by the windows. It was a rough time, my father-in-law was dying of cancer at the same time. My father being gone, the plants being gone and the pending death of my father-in-law took something out of me.
What more could be asked then, how could you throw all the plants away? My mom was suffering and trying to move on in her own way. We each cope with loss and change differently. She did what she felt she needed to do.
I moved on. My husband became the one with the green thumb and his gardening has always surrounded us with the beauty of growth and new life. Our neighbors and strangers look at the gardening and compliment him on his plants and landscaping. It is a labor of love as my plants were my labor of love.
Last week, I was given a gift. When I saw and bought this plant, a part of me that I left behind so long ago, started to grow from within. All the happiness and love from the plants felt so long ago, started to peek out from deep within my soul. I can’t express in words the emotions and feelings this little plant brings forth from my heart. Maybe an inconsequential plant to some, but a treasure, a blessing and hope for me.
I guess in life we all have small inconsequential things that spark so much emotion within us. I wish each of you the joy of bringing that inconsequential thing to the surface for you to enjoy and savor.
“It is the small things in life which count; it is the inconsequential leak which empties the biggest reservoir.” – Charles Comiskey
