Under the best of conditions we grow straight and true, perfect images of what we were intended to be. Or are those images for us? Sometimes life throws us curves, or obstacles. Sometimes we have to bend or we will break. Sometimes we have to hide to survive. Life will do what it must, and mostly if we let it, we can trust that in the end we will be enough. We may not be what we think is our perfect image, or even anyone's image, but we survive. Being reminded of that by a carrot is unusual, I suppose, but also very ordinary.
This carrot was planted some weeks ago, in a hurry, because ...well...we didn't have much time. We did not loosen and cultivate the ground, but the young plant seemed healthy and we wanted to get it into a place where it could grow before it wilted. So in it went. No preparation, really, but it did have regular water. Lots of water, thanks to the California storms that came and went for several weeks -- and when those ended, we remembered to turn on the watering system.
And so the carrot grew, as best it could. I think it was a happy carrot -- we sampled its deliciousness and we were grateful. As you can see here:
I am always reflecting on my own challenges to grow, and be, and fulfill my purpose lately. As one grows older, one wonders about a lot of things. And now I must give thanks for whatever made me, whoever shaped me, whatever choices I made because without all of that I would not be able to be the me I am. And yes, I am not disappointed in myself just now.
I am happy to be alive, happy to be as bent and crooked as the delicious carrot that just gave me a hit of Vitamin A and a bit of energy. Life is what happens to us, of course. And I will celebrate all the happenings that give us opportunity to bend, not break, and grow.
We encounter so many barriers to being that perfect image. So many little stones, pebbles in our shoes, that inhibit our progress. But they remind us constantly that we are alive, we exist, we continue to grow. Even when we bend back on ourselves and have to repeat the same paths over again, we are growing.
Even now, I grow.
