Thinking like a rose
Dear forum friends:
I would like to share with you a story. Do you like parables?
Once there were four rose bushes in a garden. All summer they workedhard to produce many fragrant blossoms and were happy with theirefforts. So they were shocked when the gardener came with pruningshears and chopped away at their long beautiful branches. The
first rose thought the gardener unfair and evil and hated the gardener.
The second one was sure it had done something wrong and was beingpunished. The third bush was more philosophicaland decidedd that it would accept what happened and move on. The fourth bush felt the pain of the shears but knew the gardener was not evil so tried to think of
what the gardener wanted it to do or to learn from the painful experience.
Months went by and each bush developed a plan of action based on itsperceptions of its experience. In the spring the first rose decided to exert
its energy on its roots and fed on compost and mature in a dark cornerof the garden. It began to wither and die and became angry and rebellious.
The second rose couldn't figure out what it had done wrong and becameparalyzed with inaction. The third rose just did what he had done the
year before but when the aphids began to munch on its leaves it
didn't put up much resistance. It didn't care. The fourth rose trustedthe gardener and planned to grow its branches another 3 feet butcouldn't figure out how to grow out of the end of the cut branch thatthe gardener had made. It discovered that there were dozens of tinynodes each capable of becoming a new branch and it began joyouslyto branch out, thanking the gardener for giving it this gift.
Every good parable has a message, and this one is no exception.
There are 3 valuable lessons to be learned. First, the rose had tolearn to trust the gardener in the face of difficulty. Second, therose was invited to discover something new about what it means to bea rose bush. Third, learning was only the first step. The rose stillhad to put forth extra effort to become the best.
As humans, we also face tests and difficulties every day. Like the roseswe also have 3 lessons to learn from them.
First we are invited to trust the guiding hand of our Creator - no matterhow hard or painful the situationSecond, growth is the result of self-discovery. Unless we know whoand what we are how can we grow? Until we explore our untappedpotential, how can we tap it?
Third, growth takes work and commitment. We have little control overthe things that happen around us but we have a great deal of controlover our willingness and capacity to respond to them.
Kindest regards to everyone!
Sonia
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