My Ficus Tree and Me

You have brought a vine out of Egypt;
         You have cast out the nations, and planted it.
You prepared room for it,
         And caused it to take deep root,
         And it filled the land.

The hills were covered with its shadow,
         And the mighty cedars with its boughs.
She sent out her boughs to the Sea,
         And her branches to the River. – Psalm 80: 8-11

Today’s Reading: Psalms 79-80; Romans 11:1-18

My mom got me this nice ficus tree three years ago when I moved into a new apartment. When it arrived at my door it was all nice and sweet; the leaves were all green and full of life. It was a happy tree.

According to the brief instructions the tree was well suited to be an indoor tree. But I swear that thing wasn’t in my apartment more than a day before the leaves started falling off.

Sigh…

So in my typical nerd fashion I scurried to the internet to find out what the haps was. Turns out that shedding leaves is normal for this kind of tree, but it didn’t stop! At first it was a few here and there. Then, the leaves started falling with increasing regularity.

Man where is Rogaine for plants when you need it?

I got it a new pot, new soil, moved it to different areas in the apartment (with varying levels of sunlight), and all kinds of other things to try to save the tree. I knew it was all bad when an old friend came by and said that the tree looked sad…

No bueno…

And I could feel it too. Sure trees and plants may not have faces like animals do, but you can feel when they are sad or in pain if you pay close attention. For whatever reason I couldn’t figure out how to give it what it needed to grow. It got to the point of no return and finally I tossed it in bitter defeat.

It was a sad day.

I must have mourned that tree for several days, wondering, what in the heck I did wrong. Why couldn’t I save it? Why couldn’t I nurture it? It’s live was in my hands and I let it slip away.

I’ve come to realize that our dreams are the same way.

Most of us had dreams when we were children. We wanted to be doctors or astronauts or ball players. Some of those dreams we were not well suited for, but others were and are within our grasp. What happens though when you start to see leaves falling off of the tree off the branches of your dreams? Maybe you had an idea six month ago that you didn’t jump on. Maybe you had an idea for a TV show several years ago and now a new show popped on TV that is similar to it. Maybe you wanted to lose weight but got on the scale and found out that you gained five pounds in the last week.

These things can be discouraging. But much like a tree our hopes and dreams need to be nurtured so that they can grow.

We need to water them with encouragement and time. We need to put them in the good soil of hard work and perseverance. We need to expose them to the sunshine of our persistent faith.

But most of all we cannot give up.

Our dreams die only when our faith in them has dried up.

So keep the faith. Keep on marching. Don’t stop until the job is done. You can do it.

Let’s get it!

A Convo at the Lake Shrine

Today's Reading: 2 Kings 10-12; John 1:29-51

I missed my Dad’s church yesterday and trained Capoeira this morning so I felt like I needed to do something to fill up my spirit. I decided to go to the Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine Temple.

It is a special place.

The guy who started it, Paramahansa Yogananda, created it as a place where anyone of any faith could go to share and meditate. A good friend of mine told me about the place years ago and ever since then I have gone there when I needed some quiet time alone.

As I walked along the path that circles lake in the middle of the grounds I admired all of the beautiful trees, bushes, shrubs and flowers that pepper the landscape. The colors from the plants pop out at you. From the reds of the wild berries to the beautiful greens of the ferns and bamboo it is easy to get lost in wonderment as you walk the grounds.

I passed by a place where I saw the most beautiful blue flowers growing in the gaps of a rock wall and felt something special there.

But I continued on.

When I got to my usual spot there was someone already there. Frustrating, but I guess that’s cool. It’s not like I own the place.

Plus, there was something about that area with those blue flowers that kept running in my head. So, I went back and sat there, took out my Bible and meditated a bit.

Several people walked by my spot along the path. Some of them were buried in their cell phones, or talking loudly with other passersby. But others were reverently walking the grounds.

It was these folks that took the time to say or nod hello. I responded in kind.

When I was in my meditative space I could feel someone approaching on the right. I looked over and saw that there were two women approaching, middle aged and peaceful. The woman on the left was walking with a considerable limp. For some reason I could see the pain in her hips.

She stopped at some bushes just before me and I felt the urge to pray for her asking that God would give her some healing for her hip and whatever else might be wrong. Then I returned to my meditation.

Out of the corner of my eye I watched as she picked a flower from the bush in front of her and continued walking toward me.

I turned to look at her but she was already looking at me.

We smiled.

Then she walked directly to me and without a word she handed me the flower. Her smile said “thank you”.

I smiled back “You’re welcome.”

She continued along the path, her steps a bit lighter, and her gait a bit stronger. At least that’s how it seemed to me.

But what I am certain of is that I was in that place at that time for a reason. There are no coincidences, only opportunities to walk through doors.

But in the end, it is each one of us who must decide whether or not we will take the first steps.