When the Spring season was over in 2009, I tossed the potted Easter lily behind a hedge by the porch. In late April 2010, I noticed that it had started to grow again and I put it on the table on the deck. It grew, but there were no blooms. After about a month, four buds appeared but they didn't bloom. And they didn’t bloom. And…they…didn’t…bloom.
But I had hope. The stem was growing crooked, and the plant looked cockeyed, so I kept turning it so that it would grow straight. Finally, I realized at 3am one night that the plant and I had been fighting - it wanted to stretch out toward the sun and I had kept turning it to what I thought was the "proper" well balanced way. It was using all its energy trying to get back to where it wanted to be.
Out I went, in the dark, apologized and turned it back to the east. Four days later, it bloomed. I had spent a lot of energy doing what I thought was the right thing for something that was quite capable of figuring out what to do on its own. The message? Let it be. The lily bloomed when it was supposed to bloom once I got out of the way.
People let plants grow without ever thinking that they need to worry about them. Perhaps I should apply Let it be to more things in my life.
Meanwhile, isn't it pretty? And it did it all on its own.
But I had hope. The stem was growing crooked, and the plant looked cockeyed, so I kept turning it so that it would grow straight. Finally, I realized at 3am one night that the plant and I had been fighting - it wanted to stretch out toward the sun and I had kept turning it to what I thought was the "proper" well balanced way. It was using all its energy trying to get back to where it wanted to be.
Out I went, in the dark, apologized and turned it back to the east. Four days later, it bloomed. I had spent a lot of energy doing what I thought was the right thing for something that was quite capable of figuring out what to do on its own. The message? Let it be. The lily bloomed when it was supposed to bloom once I got out of the way.
People let plants grow without ever thinking that they need to worry about them. Perhaps I should apply Let it be to more things in my life.
Meanwhile, isn't it pretty? And it did it all on its own.
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