A mustard seed is the most humble of all

So small, so unassuming

It does not know that its destiny is to be GREAT and TALL

When it fell to the ground it worried

Many birds came and ate many seeds

But this little seed had a destiny

It was trampled upon

Dirt covered it

Darkness consumed it

It wondered whether

It would have been better to have been

Eaten by the birds

Long it sat in darkness wondering

And learning patience by waiting

……………………….

Little lost orphan

Abandoned to the wild west

Strong from survival

Sleep was hard to find

When you always had to watch your back

And your front

It was tiring to look both ways while stealthily walking

Sometimes running and climbing

To get out of harms way

Many fights and accidents

There was no north star in view

There were others on the path

Somehow they fell off to one side

Or another

Following their own call

There was such a famine of kindness

It came in spurts

Friends for a season

Separated by force

More danger to come

The orphans heart was searching for home

So hard to not know where it was

“Are You My Mother?” said the baby bird

No, no, no, no

Where do I belong

But the call grew stronger

To find and not to search

But it was still out of reach

However, lest the orphan lose heart entirely

The world of black and white was shattered

By the sunrises and sunsets now appearing

This color was both fuel and fire

Another treacherous day accomplished by

Consuming the Universes’ artworks

On display for all

Seen by few

When you are full you don’t need to eat

When you are starving

You are ravenous for beauty

To color your soul

To make you powerful

To search another day

………………………………………………………………..

Then one day there is a crackling sound

So faint and totally unseen to the world

Done in darkness, underground

It is a sound not heard but felt

In the soul of the seed

Now waking up and realizing

Why all the darkness was necessary

There is a slow slithering sound

As a green shoot breaks the hardened shell

It winds and twists and unravels itself so quickly

As it slides through the ground and rises to meet the sun

Stretching and growing to the size of a small tree

What once was a speck on your finger

Now massive in comparison

…………………………………………………

The orphan comes to rest

Under the leaves of this mustard tree

And hears the story from the source

“I was once as small as a tiny dot” said the tree

“Who is speaking to me?” said the shocked orphan

“Trees can’t talk!”

Laughing the happy tree said

“You’ve NO idea what magical things can happen

So I will tell you

I was once so small and frightened

Thought I would be eaten by birds

Trampled underfoot was I

Covered in darkness I sat

Wondering why I should ever be here

If only to be so alone and afraid

Then just a little while ago

My mind was awakened by the mighty

Sound of my own growth

All this time I felt I was a mistake

An unhappy universal accident

But when I was growing so fast

So did my thoughts

I saw the mysteries of the Universe

They were revealed to me

So you must be as I

Since I was told that someone would sit under me

And I would be able to talk

I didn’t even know what that was

Until you came to me and sat under my giant leaves

My branches stretched out in worship

The light was transforming me so fast I felt such joy

It was stored up in me like a tornado

I heard a voice say to me

That ‘you will speak and she will hear you’

I’ve been waiting for you

Now let me tell you what the darkness meant

And about the work it did on my heart and mind

I thought I was abandoned but I was being built

The sorrow I felt was nothing in comparison

To the joy that I have now

I was dead but now I am transformed

I am alive as you can see

Now I am to tell you

You have been lost but will be found

You have been blind but you will see

Keep pressing on

You do not know where you are going

You will see when you arrive

That all along you were being led

Your sorrows will end

Your joy will come

Just as the sun rises and sets for you

Only you will be the sun rising

You will be the light for others

Just as I was just for you

Now I see those drops coming from your eyes

Notice I have caught everyone of them

See that leaf of mine

See the pool there

Look now into the water of your own tears

You will see your reflection”

And the mustard tree laughed a full bellied laugh

As the orphan stared at her own reflection

In a pool of her own tears

She gasped as she saw others’ reflections behind her laughing with the tree

She was shocked

She cried so hard and felt such deep pain

But something was different about the pain this time

This was a pain deeper and more profound

As she watched one after another come into view behind her

She turned her head to see if they were standing there

There was no one there

In her haste she bumped the leaf and it spilled all her tears to the ground

“Oh NO!” she gasped

Fear gripped her as she felt all was lost to her again

All her tears were being consumed by the ground

The tree was silent as she sadly watched the orphan grab the dirt

And weep and cry out in anguish

Curled up in a ball time passed until the tears were no more

And the silent girl gave up the fight

The tree waited and could not speak a word that wasn’t given to it

After many hours a small voice parted the girls lips

“Why, why did you show me something

I cannot see anymore

Who were those people

They looked like me somehow

I felt I knew them but we have never met

I cannot go on now without seeing them

They looked like home to me

And now I am such a klutz

And I can’t live without them, I shall die here”

The tree was silent, no words were coming to it

The tree was sad but knew now how to wait

The girl slept for 3 days under the watchful branches of the tree

One morning the sun rose so brilliantly

It woke the weary girl from her deep slumber

Slowly she sat up and leaned breathlessly against the tree

Colors flooded the sky and she gasped

Her broken heart was beating so loudly

She could hear the sound of it

She rose up and an energy rushed through her so greatly

She ran into the field as fast as she could

She was choking and gulping in air

Heaving she stopped, her body fell limp to the ground

Brilliantly the sun rose

Her chest lifted up and rays of light beamed upon it

The warmth spread through her

She heard crackling sounds

And slithering sounds

Her mind was filled with great thoughts

She saw planets and earth and sky

She saw life form from nothing to great things

She understood things without having words

Great shoots of green vines were growing through

Her heart into the ground

And up to the sky

Reaching for the sun

She was becoming a great and powerful tree

So great and rapid was her growth

That the mightiness of her

Was seen for miles and miles

Then it stopped…

The sun was in the sky, the colors gone

They were her DNA, trapped in her cells

She waited and watched only hearing

The sound of the wind through her branches

Swaying in the breeze

PEACE spread through her core

Many sunrises and sunsets came and went

As she listened to the words of generations

Spoken only to her heart

She never slept, she did not need to sleep

She grew in understanding of all she was

Why was immaterial

She had no more questions

But she had answers

She could not understand how she knew

But she did

She waited in peace

It did not matter what for

Until one day they came

From the north, south

East and West

Owls of every kind lit in her branches

She was filled with them

Each one left her with a story

She listened with her heart and said nothing

After its story was through the owl would leave

One by one

Until they were all gone

And the sun set

The tree fell asleep in the dark

When the sun rose in the morning

The girl found herself lying in a meadow of tall grasses on a bed of moss

She rose to find herself a woman

No longer a child

No longer a tree

And she saw a path that stretched out before her

Now she set her foot to it

Not alone as she once thought

But surrounded by a pool of her ancestors

Guided by a heart and soul fueled by love

By understanding

That she did not need to know why anymore

She just knew

_____________________________________________________________________________________

The Sarah Hale Folger Project seeks to inspire greatness in humanity by sharing inspiring stories with the world. Please contact me here on my blog or through my website at http://www.TheArtUniverse.com

Sarah Hale Folger is a Creative Consultant, Artist, Singer and Educator. PLEASE make sure to subscribe to my blog today so you never miss the next thing happening in the world the way I see it! Please feel free to comment, share and please, subscribe to my blog. Thanks You.