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Grow Strong and Reach the Stars

The mighty oak tree shows us what a little acorn, water and sunshine along with some fertilizer can produce. Have you noticed an oak tree recently? Have you noticed now tall they can get? How mighty and majestic they are? Have you ever tried to hug a hundred-year-old oak tree? The breadth and beauty of it is a reminder of the magnitude life can have, from fertilizer of all things.

Our human growth has many similarities to a mighty hundred-year-old oak tree. We start as such a tiny seed and with nourishment we grow. Some reach to the stars and others get stunted along the way. Those with nourishment on the path of life might appear to have an advantage but let’s consider a wider view. What if the fertilizer could be prime nourishment? Some do not receive enough sunlight, water or nutrients.  Some receive an abundance of fertilizer instead, completely out of balance for what makes an oak a mighty oak. How could this be a benefit?

Life can simply stink sometimes. That stinky fertilizer might have some properties that make the mightiest of oaks. Childhood is never perfect and parenting is never perfect. I have experienced both. Both ends of the spectrum has its difficulties and imperfections, whether we are the child or the parent. Humans will never ever be perfect whether young or old, will never happen. So instead of blame and victimization let’s find nourishing fertilizer for out mighty oaks.

There are some of the most horrendous stories out there of people who has suffered at the hands of parents or others. Those wounds are carried with us for a life time. Moving through, up and out of those wounds can produce beautiful growth instead of bitterness. The scars can be worn proudly as a right-of-passage.  Pile on the fertilizer of life and you can see some of the mightiest oak people. Go back in history and explore what some great people endured throughout life and how they became mighty people for future generations to admire. Do we really think they were exempt from having to work their way through it without having the fertilizer stink at times? The stink comes with the fertilizer and that is okay.

Allow those who have had misery, which is mainly everyone, to air out in the fresh open air and blow the stink off. They might not have had all of the proper nourishment along the way but with the care of others with green thumbs and large hearts, there is much hope. Allow people the opportunity to blow off the stink from the fertilizer and see what happens. They seem to be the ones who just might have the deepest roots, have the trunk breadth and leaf crown of a centurion oak that allows them to reach the stars and not be blown side to side. Are you someone who can contribute toward this splendid growth of another? Has someone contributed in this manner to your growth?

The fertilizer of our lives is to be honored. It makes us who we are. Without it we would all be alike robots without our uniqueness, vulnerabilities and strengths. As we learn to accept our pasts we can grow into honoring every person along the way that has helped make us exactly who we are today. Remember to honor yourself as well. You hung in there and you have grown into this mighty Romanian oak tree reaching for the Milky Way. How absolutely beautiful is that?

Are you able to turn your fertilizer into honor? Are you willing to show others kindness and love to blow off their stink?

Maribeth Baxter, MBEC

LOGO - 2017-12

Donations accepted to serve others on their chronic illness journey. Maribeth Baxter, MBEC provides voluntary certified health coaching services to the financially limited during their time of crisis.

 

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