Earlier on this summer, I noticed that Mr Roo loved to dig in a little plot of soil right next to our small patio. He would take his toy rake and spade and just sit out in the sunlight, intently shoveling and moving the dirt around. We had been reading a book in the evenings about the life cycle of plants and he seemed to be fascinated with the process. So, I decided that we should cultivate our little plot of ground and he could see a life cycle first hand. Initially, the intention was to start off with a seed and watch it grow through each phase; however, because we got a late start...we bought a small tomato plant. Each day, Mr Roo would go out and water the plant and make sure it had plenty of fresh soil around it. The plant began to grow. After returning from one of our weekend summer getaways, I noticed that bugs had destroyed the base of one of the main stems. So, I had to do some major surgery and the plant was significantly cut down to size.
I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed and began to seriously doubt whether we would see any tomatoes by the end of the season. Still, I had to show my boy the lesson of perserverance. Every morning we would go out to check on the little plant. It began to grow taller, but no buds could be seen for a couple weeks. Again, I was disappointed, but we kept on nurturing our little tomato plant. Soon, we saw little flowers begin to bloom; this was followed by mini pea-sized green tomatoes growing where the flowers had been. How exciting! Our persistance was paying off. But then a GIANT wind storm came up where fences were knocked down and tree branches were broken off and scattered everywhere. I was convinced that our little tomato plant was a goner. The next day, I looked out our back door and miraculously it was still standing. We stabilized it with part of a fishing pole rod and it now continues to grow taller and the tomatoes are looking quite nice. It now appears that we will see a harvest of ripe tomatoes before the end of the season. Our little plant fought its way back from a slow start, creatures attempting to eat away at its foundation and adverse weather conditions to become a healthy, fruit-producing crop.
Early on in this cultivating process, I began to see a coorelation between working toward our goals and dreams in life and this survivor of a plant. Some of us may have started down our path a bit slower than others; sometimes due to our own decisions and others may have encountered unavoidable obstacles. But ultimately it's up to each one of us to decide whether or not we're even going to START down our path toward our dreams.
Once we've decided to proceed, there can be much opposition. People who are not goal-oriented often attempt to derail us through their vocal criticism, inconsequential distractions or even more blatant attacks against us in an effort to destroy our plans for the future. Perhaps these people have already begun to successfully 'eat away' at our base. We've allowed them to diminish our self confidence, focus and even our inital enthusiasm toward reaching our target goal. We can STILL get back on track by pruning these people or their negative ideals from our lives and erecting safeguards around us to prohibit the recurrence of these distractions again. These safeguards can be anything from adopting a more encouraging set of friends to building ourselves up with positive affirmations; actions and surroundings that revolve around optimism.
However, unexpected storms arise throughout everyone's lives. We can limit the effects of these disasters by building and cultivating our foundations so that we are not easily uprooted or swayed. The biblical parable of the wise man building his house on the rock versus the foolish man who builds his on the sand speaks to the importance of foundation-building. Our goals must be built solidly on ethical and honest bases to withstand lifes tumultuous tempests.
Perservering through all of these obstacles leads not only to your desired goal, but more importantly, it builds character within you. Through achieving your dreams by these means, you are less likely to take things for granted and more amenable to assisting and encouraging others to accomplish their goals and dreams as well.
Our little tomato plant served not only as a personal inspiration to continue on toward my educational goals, but it helped me recognize, appreciate and prepare for the different phases I'll encounter on my path to success.
AND...Mr Roo and I cannot wait to make tasty BLT's with our very own home-grown tomatoes!
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