Growth under difficult circumstances

Last spring, before we moved, I had the idea to take a seedling from the huge silver maple in our backyard to plant at the new house. I’d spent the last 10 years fighting these seedlings because that tree spreads it’s helicopter seeds everywhere. Those of you who live near maple trees will understand. There are so many that plenty of them sprout and start to grow, especially those that fell in flower beds or on the lawn. However, last year we must have cleaned them up much faster than usual, probably for staging reasons, so there were none of these seedlings to be found. I did find one, hiding under a holly bush, very close to the wooden edging. It was hard to dig out and I didn’t get many of the roots. I planted it in a pot anyway, in which I had also planted some of the helicopter seeds I’d saved, though they hadn’t seemed to work. I moved them to the new house.

At the new house I put the pot outside by the front door and hoped for the best. The leaves drooped. I gave it shade, sun, and water. The leaves started to curl. They got brown around the edges. I kept watering it. The baby leaves fell off and the rest turned brown. I kept watering it. For a few weeks. Then I told myself, this is stupid. It’s dead. Just pull it out. I didn’t, but fully intended to soon. The next time I checked the plant, I saw baby leaves growing from the branch. They got bigger. Then there were more of them. It struck me that this is a metaphor. Things may look dead, like failure. It may seem like the only sensible choice is to give up. But growth happens even when it’s not visible. If we keep working towards what really matters to us, one day we will see the results. Then we get to watch the growth happen. And that’s the exciting part!

By the fall, both trees had grown and they needed to be separated. I put one in the ground and gave the other the pot to itself, to keep inside for the winter as a backup. Neither plant seemed to recover from the transplanting. The leaves on the outdoor plant became crispy and then fell off. It was nothing but two sticks poking out of the ground – for six months. Frost came, so did wind, and then snow. My little tree just sat there through it all, looking like nothing. The indoor tree kept is leaves but stopped growing. It just looked sad. Some of the leaves started to yellow. Eventually it got leaf mildew. However, in April the two sticks left of the outdoor tree got two buds. Then some tiny leaves. Now a couple weeks later it’s bigger than the indoor tree. Plus it looks so much healthier.

It’s amazing how these trees continue to show parallels to life. The sheltered “safe” tree stagnated and became diseased. The tree placed into rougher conditions appeared to die but really it was growing its roots. It was digging down deep into the soil and strengthening itself through the hardships of winter. Like the trees, when we choose the safe path, we stagnate. The easy way produces no growth. It only weakens us. The hard path is definitely scarier and less comfortable, but that is where the growth happens. We may get knocked down at first, but when we dig deep and strengthen ourselves we are then able to grow strong and healthy in a way we couldn’t have done otherwise.

If you are feeling like a bare tree in winter right now, I encourage you to dig down into your foundation and hold on tight. Even though it may not feel like it, spring will come, and that new strength will enable you to not only recover, but thrive.