Acorns. Poppies. Like the redwood and the bonsai, seeds encompass all manner of different potentials. We are the same.
Like the vastness of different seeds in the natural world, each of us comes into this world with our own genetic makeup. Some seeds large, some small, and all have their own special natural code written in them from the moment their existence begins. Whether they will rise to be a rose or a daffodil, a towering oak or a flourishing hydrangea, Spanish moss or water lily, we all are born with potential to become something beautiful. Something unique.
And as with us, flowers and trees, mosses and even weeds, are subject to the perils and fortunes of the world which we are born into. Seeds are blown away in a brisk wind and never find purchase in soil. Seeds are drenched in thunderclap and washed to the sea. Seeds are born into a desert, never seeing the slightest wink of favor from the sun or the heat.
We are born into this world and, too often, lie at the mercy of poverty and malice. Or we begin our fledgling journey into light, only to be dashed away by abuse and neglect. Like a budding sapling or an ambitious cherry blossom, we can suddenly feel the harsh bellow of the nature of the seasons and of our surroundings. Some of us flower to magnificence when the environs are friendly and the sun is sweet. Others begin the slow decline into shambles, lacking the nurturing patience of a gentle gardener. Inside the soft skin of a shell, we possess our own special gifts. To mother, to paint or to write. To deliver a sermon or hit a homerun or pitch a wicked slider. To run great distances and to explore the core of the earth, the atom, and ourselves.
The world is harsh and unrelenting. Armed with our gifts and our gentle souls, we face the demons of the dark side, the talons of a thieving hawk that would rest our gifts away and fly into the night. The seeds of ourselves face the darkness and the light, sunshine and night. When we grow into the nature of our true selves, whether in a greenhouse or the adverse conditions of the world or both, when we do that, we provide beauty and shelter, food and romance, to any who love us back. That is the great obstacle of the seed, the challenge of our lives. To learn how and where we can live to our truest selves. And in that, God blesses us, if we listen very close, to the purpose of our blossom.
My Zen Brain 