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Today's
Meditation:
Sometimes
the most remarkable thoughts are expressed in very few
words, and sometimes they're so insightful and simple at
the same time that it's almost scary. What Kersey's
quotation about apples and seeds says to us about
perspective is absolutely beautiful in its simple
truth: there's no way of knowing the extent of the
potential in anything, really, and something like an apple
seed can give us years and years of bountiful harvests,
with uncounted apples.
People
are the same way, of course. There's no telling
what's inside each person that we meet, no telling the
potential that each person has for growth and for doing
exceptional things. Just like the apple seed,
though, our potential is realized by creating just the
right conditions for our growth and development.
Just as the apple cannot thrive in dry, barren climes, so
is it difficult for us to thrive in situations that are
not fitting.
There
are two big differences between us and apples,
though. First of all, apple seeds all need similar
conditions in which to grow--similar amounts of rain and
sunlight and acid in the soil. We don't, and many of
our problems come from people trying to create the same
growing conditions for all people--it just doesn't work
that way. What works for you probably wouldn't work
for me, and what works for me wouldn't work for many other
people. We all hear of the success stories of people
who grew up in "poor" conditions yet
thrived--perhaps those awful conditions were exactly what
that person needed to succeed, just as a cactus can grow
to great heights in the desert.
Second,
if our situation isn't helpful or healthy for us, we can
always leave. We can change jobs or move to a warmer
clime or even leave destructive relationships. The
apple can't do so--if it's in a poor growing situation, it
will do poorly forever, without the opportunity to move
itself to a more fitting environment.
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