With spring in full bloom where I live, the signs are showing up everywhere. Crocus, daffodils, even tulips are poking up in the yards around my neighborhood and many of the flowering trees are in bloom as well.
As I look around at the color just starting to decorate the world around me, I’m reminded that this didn’t happen by chance. At some point all of this beauty started because someone planted something; a seed, a bulb, a sapling. In the case of the flowers, that may have be very recently. But in the case of the mature flowering crabapple, plum, and cherry trees I see in my neighborhood… these beautiful trees were planted long ago.
A Chinese proverb states that “the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is today.” I believe that’s true, but the type of tree and how it is nurtured and cared for is critically important.
Is the tree that you planted 20 years ago giving you the shade, comfort, beauty, and perhaps even sustenance, which you had hoped for?
Or has it become wild and overgrown, or succumbed to rot or pests? Perhaps the landscape around your tree has changed, crowding it out. Or perhaps large branches have been broken in severe storms or less water is available to nurture the roots.
Our goals and dreams can be like trees.
We plant them and give them nourishment and they grow. But sometimes, despite all the care and attention, the trees and the ideas that we planted 20 years ago might not hold up so well today. Situations and circumstances change, and we grow and change too. The seed we planted so long ago, might not have grown into what we had hoped, or perhaps that tree from our youth now casts a shadow over trees we’ve planted since then.
We can try and nurse those older trees and ideas along, propping them up, feeding them additional nutrients, and hoping that things somehow turn out okay. Or we can honestly examine them. Do they still serve and provide us with what we desire? Do they still fit within the landscape of our lives?
If they do, then consider giving those ideas and dreams more attention and care until they reach the fullness of your desires.
And if they don’t… today is a good day to plant a tree.
It is so true. Naturing our lives with new ideas or give “compose” to our thoughts and let life become better. Sometimes it is time to change in total or some things. Allyson it is good to hear to reflect over our lives and see if we are still on track.