At the same time
there is another thing happening. When the seed finds it can trust
itself to root it feels no longer afraid to show itself. It goes down,
down quietly for a _firmer hold_, and upward feeling the desire for
light.
_A firm hold and more light_, we cannot think too much of what they
mean.
Every day that the seed pushes its tender leaves and stem upward it
has more and more to encounter. The rains beat it down; the winds bend
it to the very earth from which it came; leaves and weeds bury it
beneath their strength and abundance, but despite all these things, in
the face of death itself, the brave little plant strongly keeps its
place. It grows in the face of danger. But how? Day after day, as it
fights its way in the air and sunshine, blest or bruised as it may be,
the little plant never fails to keep at one thing. That is, to get a
firmer and firmer hold. From that it never lets go. Break its leaves
and its stem, crush it as you will, stop its upward growth even, but
as long as there is a spark of life in it there will be more roots
made. It aims from the first moment of its life to get hold strongly.
And it seems as if the plant has always a great motive. The moment it
feels it has grasped the mother-earth securely with its roots it turns
its strength to making something beautiful. In the air and light, in
the dark earth even, every part of the plant is seeking for the means
to do a wonderful thing.
Pages:
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92