Life started out for me so well..
I was all bundled up and surrounded by lush colors, vibrance and nutrients.
I would enjoy the sun and the rays that gave me warmth and light to grow and be inspired and to continue to develop.
Even when the rain was heavy, I would appreciate the blessings that would often soak me. I knew that these rain droplets, were giving me the hydration that I needed, even if indirectly.
The winds and storms were a little harder to manage, but even those we managed to get by.
As I grew, I felt the space around me becoming more pressurizing, and I also realized that I have lots of company, individuals just like me. We worked hard together to gain nutrients, hydration and more, and slowly we all kept growing bigger.
One day, when I was just relaxing, I felt a big chomp, and in an instant, it seemed as if I had been cut off from something, I felt my energy start to sap.
I feel chopping, and all the green mushy stuff around me was cut away, and I was left at the side to shrivel up. The good stuff was taken away, and I am put in a pile on the side, as I slowly wilt and lose my moisture and energy.
Yet even as things go dark for me, I know that embedded inside of me I have some divine energy, waiting for someone to tap into and do something with it.
Will I end up in a garbage bag and thrown into the trash… or does G-d have something else in mind for me?
One day I feel myself being picked up, I am pretty dried out now… things don’t look good.
Suddenly I feel myself thrown into a hole in the earth, it is dark and cold and I can’t even see the sunlight anymore. It gets worse, I am now being covered with earth, one clod after another is going over my head. I feel myself getting squished down by all the dark organic matter around me, and it seems like it is finally over.
As the cold earth seeps to seep into me and the darkness overtakes me, I feel something happening inside of me… I feel like part of me is beginning to break down… I am losing my beauty and good looks, but as this happens, I am also starting to feel life beginning to develop inside of me.
Wait, it actually feels like something beautiful is starting to grow from inside of me… indeed it is a bright young green shoot that is trying so hard to get to the surface.
I work as hard as I can, to continue sucking up the nutrients that G-d has put in the earth around me, as I pump as much energy as I can into this tiny sapling… The heat of the sun rays can already be felt by the tip of the green fresh young shoot. It finally breaks out the ground and is shocked by the bright light and intense noise happening all around it. The bees are everywhere, there are shoots just like it coming out the ground on the right and the left, and over there in the corner is a pile of old looking seeds, that look just like I once did.
I am still down here below ground and it is still dark, but I am developing strong roots to support the green shoot above.. I soak up the water around me, the nutrients, and continue to pump it out into the now little bush that is growing on top of me.
Yes, soon in a few weeks, I will produce my own fruit, and yes mountains of little seeds who will grow just like me.
Man is the Tree of the Field, says the Torah.
The journey of our growth we don’t always get to know in advance, but we also know that at every moment of time, we are meant to grow and move forward, from the sunlight and rain, to the moments of being surrounded by darkness.
Ultimately, it is a combination of all of the elements, which help us produce the beautiful offspring and fruit, namely children and Mitzvot, that we continue to give off into the world.
So even, if you are surrounded by earth and darkness and the pressure feels tremendous, and even if you feel you are starting to breakdown and not be yourself anymore, it is from moments like these, that the most powerful spurts of growth will come.
Shabbat Shalom & Good Shabbos
Yisroel