On our porch, we have some big flower pots where we planted the seeds for these cute flowers. Several feet away, in the middle of the pool deck, one of these flowers has been growing up through the crack. I have watched it over the last several weeks and find it to be so cute, and it's given me lots of moments to reflect on resilience. Somehow, this tiny little seed blew out of the pot and eventually made it's way into this crack, and then got the water and sunlight it needed to begin to grow. Against all odds, it has grown with the little bit of dirt it could find. And miraculously, it has even escaped the tiny hands of many kids who run in and out of the pool, right over the top if it.
So to my kids - here are a few thoughts on resilience from your momma: when the winds of life try to blow us around, naturally we like to stay in our pot, exactly where we are supposed to be, surrounded by what's comfortable and familiar. But sometimes, we aren't always that lucky, and out of our "pot" we blow, into a big flat expanse of concrete. So now what? Do we shrivel up and dry out and cry for the pot we once had? Become a victim to the unfair wind and the terrible circumstances around us? Or do we fight to find some small crack of hope that lets us set in new roots? We keep looking, we expand our ideas, we adapt to what is out of our control and find a way to fight, to live, to grow, and to flourish.
Sometimes, especially in our inexperience, we will choose the first option and become a victim to circumstances. But hopefully, as time and experiences continue to teach us, we will more naturally fall into the second choice which allows growth, new opportunity, and power to be free wherever you land.
