A great king had three sons, and he wanted to choose one to be his heir. It was very difficult, because all three were very intelligent, very courageous, and very kind. Unable to choose between the three, he asked a great sage, and the sage suggested an idea … The king went home, gathered his three sons before him, and gave them each one bag of flower seeds. After doing so, he told them that he was going on a pilgrimage and would be away for many years. “This is a kind of test.” the King said. “Whosoever protects their seeds best while I am gone will become my heir.” And he departed.

The first son chose to lock his seeds in an iron safe — because when the father returned he wanted to give them back exactly as they were. The second son thought, “If I lock them up just as my brother has done, these seeds will die.” So he went into the market and sold the seeds and kept the money, thinking, “When my father comes I will go to the market, purchase new seeds, and give him back better than the first.” The third son looked at his bag of seeds for a moment, smiled, and then went to a bare plot of earth in his father’s garden and scattered the seeds all over the place.

After three years, the father returned and gathered his sons before him once again. “Well my sons, how goes it with your seeds?” The first son opened his iron safe, and his seeds were indeed all dead, moldy & stinking. The second son rushed out of the room to the market, purchased new seeds, and returned, saying, “These are your seeds. They are too fresh for planting, but will be soon be just as good as the ones you gave me years ago.” The father sighed and turned to the third son. “And your seeds?” he asked. The third son took him back to the back corner of the garden where there were millions of plants blooming, millions of flowers all around. “These are the seeds you gave me, father” he said. “Soon I will collect the seeds from these flowers and give them to you. Right now they are getting ready to be collected.”

The father smiled and with a sense of deep contentment said, “You are my heir. This is how one should behave with seeds.” ~ unknown

………………………..

Yes, the seed is protected as long as it doesn’t bloom. It’s hard shell keeps it safe from harm and its small size keeps it hidden from most dangers. And yet if it doesn’t choose to bloom, it will die the greater death — the death of a life unfulfilled.

As long as we remain mired in fears for our safety &/or desires for our own “wealth”, we too will remain “seeds” – mere kernels of the vast potential to do the Meaning-full Good that we have been given.

Great courage is required to reach out to others; great courage is required to be kind to strangers & to forgive our enemies; great courage is required to blossom into who we truly ARE …

And yet, even if we do so for only one day — even if we give just one glimpse of that greater Beauty, our lives will take on more meaning and worth than the “lives” of millions upon millions of seeds.

LOVE means opening up to others …

LOVE means setting aside personal desires & reaching through personal fears in order to be Kind …

LOVE means — even if only for a few minutes each day — choosing to BLOOM into the caring person you truly are.

So …. got LOVE?

“And the day came when the drive to blossom forth in Love became more powerful than the desire to remain hidden tight in a bud.” ~ inspired by Anais Nin

Filed under: Wisdoms from the Journey by Scaughdt