Editor’s note: This post was to appear September 21, 2023
Our adventures this week led us to discover a variety of late summer or early fall flowers, leaves turning from green to yellow or shades of orange and red, and the sun’s shifting positions in the skies to signal the passing of summer and the start of autumn. The sights were like tiny reminders or seeds planted along our paths as we went about our activities. Closer examination of some of the flowers revealed seeds ready to drop, signaling the coming end of the plant’s life that will enable another plant to grow come spring. We thought we’d offer up some observations and thoughts on seeds in this week’s post.
“Never underestimate the importance of the beginning. Of anything. The beginning has the seeds of everything else to come.” -Carolyn Coman
Theme of the Week: Seeds Around Thee
Our theme of the week started on my Sunday run. I noticed a number of flowers along the road. The flowers had grown from seeds either planted by nature in the wild or by neighbors in their yards. Observing each flower type, it was obvious growth had taken place with leaves flourishing on stems and flowers blooming amid the leaves. The sun and rain had helped nurture the seeds to become plants. Now the time was fast approaching for the plants to die off and pass on their seeds so that other plants could grow and bloom next season.
Seeing the flowers offered my heart, mind, and soul seeds of hope, inspiration, and compassion. Nature was offering to me all it could to help me upon my journey. I, in turn, could use this offering to help others by sharing what I had seen or experienced through writings or pictures. What started out as a dry seed last year turned into a plant bearing flowers which in turn bore fruit or seeds, which in turn helped me find a sense of comfort or peace, which led me to share with others, which led to the others feeling loved or cared about. And this all started because of a seed. Wow.
“Inside every seed is the potential for an incredible harvest.” -Farrah Gray
Lesson of the Week: What Art Thee?
Our lesson of the week is courtesy of a flower patch encountered along my running and biking route. I spotted what seemed like a cascade of flowers flowing over the hillside. Closer inspection revealed hundreds of buds waiting to open. The flowers had yellow centers and white petals, but the number of white petals was too many to be a daisy or a fleabane. Additional research at home in our trusty resource books made me go back for further inspection as there were two wild flowers that matched the identification traits, but I wanted to be certain before I shared what I had found.
Returning from the closer inspection and re-reading the information found, I was able to identify with confidence the cascades of white flowers were white heath asters. The experience in trying to identify the flowers made me contemplate how each trait or characteristic of a flower (or any living thing really) is packed into a tiny seed. The traits or characteristics are slowly brought into view and given freedom of expression through care via the light of the sun, water from the rain, and nutrients from the soil.
We humans are similar, starting as a seed of sorts in the womb, emerging in a tiny body, nurtured through food, water, and relationships of family and friends. Our traits and characteristics emerge as we grow, learn, and develop skills or talents. Unlike the seeds of plants though, when we pass away, we do not drop physical seeds to bring forth new life. We can, however, impart seeds of knowledge, understanding, and character upon those left behind. The seeds we may plant along the way in our lives are from our actions, reactions, generosity, compassion, and kindness.
What we leave behind as our legacy helps provide for future generations, helping to keep the cycle of life going. Whether we like the analogy or not, we are all seeds of sorts throughout our lives. We are also students and teachers no matter our age or profession. These roles we have are important to others around us throughout our days. As such, we are part of a great garden spanning the tests of time.
“Everything we do seeds the future. No action is an empty one.” -Joan D. Chittister
Science Lesson of the Week: More Than One Identity
Our science lesson of the week is courtesy of the research we did on the white heath aster. Aster is from the Greek word for star. Originally the plants were known in England as starworts. There are over 600 species of asters. Some species are popular garden flowers, but others like the white heath asters mentioned above are considered troublesome weeds in certain areas. Asters have tough stems, and clumps of these stems can break mowing blades. Given this trait, the white heath aster is also known as steel weed.
This science lesson got me to thinking about how we get our names or nicknames in life. Some of us are named after other family members, some after famous people, still others have unique given names for reasons that range from parents wanting something different, to being able to distinguish between others with the same name, to looking like someone or having a certain trait. Regardless of how we got or get our names or nicknames, they act as seeds of our identity as individuals or within groups. Who we are today is not who we will be tomorrow because something inside us or about us will change either with or without our consent or knowledge. Such changes are just a part of living life.
“It is good to leave each day behind, like flowing water, free of sadness. Yesterday is gone and its tale told. Today new seeds are growing.” -Rumi
May we come to know and accept our place in each part of our journey. May the miles nurture, the light guide, and the rains cleanse us, and may we come to find what is best for the seed.
Best for the Seed
Sun on the rise,
I run and write
To find peace
In the light that bleeds
Far and away
With the stars and the rain
That comes and goes
Fron what God above knows
Is best for the seed
And best for the need.
Through miles and words,
The wild of the earth,
The pain that roars,
The rain that pours,
Somehow lead
The soul around to peace,
To what is best for the seed,
What is yet to be.
Leaves of change and fruit on the vine
Keep what remains alive in this life,
Ever searching, ever going back and forth
Ever turning, ever looking past the storms
For the light to return,
In the life as we learn
To grow and be
As the sowed seeds
Of the hands Divine
In the sands of time
Creating what is best for the seed,
Thank You!
Making the rest history.
-Lisa A. Wisniewski
A Note of Thanks
Our thanks this week is to nature for the many seeds it provides. From flowers to fruit, trees to vines, and everything in between the vast garden of life, we are grateful for it all, even when challenged with circumstances or the unknown.
Lisa, Leo, and Lena
Natural Deltas 