Don't be afraid to handle the Fertilizer in your life. Without it, you can't grow and be a stronger person.
This story evolves around my Grandfather and how he had a green thumb for growing things. If it were a vegetable, fruit or plant, he could grow it. It makes you wonder sometimes how some people can grow wonderful things, while others have good intentions but fail.
I can remember one day when my Grandfather asked me if I wanted my own little Dahlia plant just to see how well I would do with it. It became a special project and I wanted to show him that I was just as good as he was at growing big Dahlias. He had a recipe for fertilizer from chicken, rabbit and cow droppings. I certainly didn’t want to be around that stuff, the smell would drive you away. As far as I was concerned just watering my Dahlia was enough.
Each day when I got home from school I would check my plant in between doing my chores. After about four weeks I noticed that my plant looked like it had stopped growing. On the other hand my Grandfather’s plants were twice as tall and twice as full. His ended up having extremely large full blooms. I asked him, “What did I do wrong?”His answer was, “You didn’t want to handle the fertilizer.”
There’s an insight here that as an adult I understand more. Let’s continue while I use some of the content of the story symbolically.
Let’s imagine your desires and ideas are like Dahlias. And the water would symbolize the belief in the idea. Then of course, it would make sense that the fertilizer represents the challenges and obstacles that will come along when trying to cultivate your new idea. But the fertilizer is also the most important part because when you use it, it will help you stand tall, be stronger, and give you the character and fortitude to move forward. You see, I believed my little flower would grow but it wasn’t enough because I wasn’t about to handle the stinky stuff in life that comes along to allow it to become bigger and better.
So, what I think my Grandfather was trying to tell me is if all of the ingredients are used in obtaining your desires, the end result will come into fruition like a Dahlia in full bloom. © Tony Masiello 2006
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