Today is one of my thinking days . . . I like thinking days. Oh, I know . . . I think most days, but some days I ponder more than others. Some days I wake up pondering, and then it just continues the whole day through. I began today thinking about fruit and vegetables. I hear you . . . how unusual is that . . . Marie thinking about food . . . duh . . .
But . . . hear me out.
I was thinking about how most fruit and vegetables have an outer covering, one which protects the inner flesh . . . sometimes edible, sometimes not . . . the most tastiest, sweetest bits being the parts that are beneath the skin. Oft times you can eat the skin . . . but it's never as tasty as what lies beneath, that inner core of sweet and ripe deliciousness . . .
Oh how very much this thought speaks to this human journey we have all embarked upon . . . and, in a myriad of ways.
We often cloak and protect our inner seeds of effort, curiosity, passion, desire . . . beneath a covering of grand design and ambition. Plans which have nothing at all most-times to do with the sweetness and fulfillment of what grows inside, within our very hearts. That is not always a bad thing. Is not that outer covering . . . like the husk on a kernel of wheat . . . protection . . . a covering which allows the inner core to mature and incubate . . . enabling it to become what it might yet become??
Most things in life need a protective covering in order to grow and to ripen. Most often when I buy fruit at the shops, I need to bring it home and put it into a paper bag so that it can ripen enough for me to eat it. It's not a bad thing to protect the heart of any fruit, while it is ripening . . . the problem lies though, in covering it up for too long. A tomato left in a paper bag for a few days becomes soft and fragrant and juicy, much nicer to eat . . . but if you leave it for a week or more . . . for too long . . . things begin to go very badly. It begins to spoil . . . black spots of rot and mildew settling in on the surface and boring into it's very core.
It's the same with us. It's a good thing to protect our inner selves, our plans, desires, efforts, curiosities . . . but once they are ready to break free and have matured . . . leaving them beneath the covering of our old designs . . . that's when our inner selves can begin to go off . . . to mildew a bit . . .
Change is not always bad. It's good to break free at times . . . to move, grow, expand . . . to allow our inner selves the opportunity to open up and ripen . . . to mature in a way that's not always possible when held beneath the protection of our outer shells. there is joy in the planning . . . and in our imaginations, but once these plans and dreams have matured, we must let them out, allow them to breathe, else all of our fantasies, ambitions and deep complaints become as dry husks . . . useless skins. It's not enough to protect these things . . . if we never intend on enjoying the fruit. Protection then becomes a wasted effort . . . all forms of sacrifice and postponement for the future causing us to decay inside. No point in having plans and dreams if we never allow them to at least try to come to fruition.
Of course . . . we cannot control the timing and ripening of our sweetness . . . the best that we can do is try not to define ourselves by what covers us, even if it has helped us to grow. Dreams and desires help us to be who we are . . . but they are not WHO we are. They merely cloak the sweetness that lies within . . .
"There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you."
~Maya Angelou
The guys were here working on the bathroom until well after nine o'clock last night, but you can see great progress. I think we are almost done now! The floor has been laid, mirror put up, shower in, etc. I can't see much else that needs doing, but I am sure that there will be a few more things. I think they need to put in a few hand rails, etc. It's nice to be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel now. It's been almost three weeks of uproar, and as grateful as I am for it . . . I will still be glad to see the end of it! ☺ A shower! Bliss!!
Today is the last day of my Step program. Those six months have gone very quickly. There is a bit less of me to love now and that's a good thing! I have to wait three months before I can go back onto it. The challenge will be in keeping off what I have lost already and trying to lose a bit more, so that when I start the program up again in December, it will not have been for nothing, and I will still be on the right track! Must dash as I have a lot to do before the men arrive again. I didn't get to many pages yesterday, but finger's crossed I will today!
Cooking in The English Kitchen today . . . Artichoke Chicken Bake!
Love and hugs to you all! Happy Friday, the weekend awaits!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Your comments mean the world to me, and while I may not be able to address each one individually, each one is important to me and each one counts. Thanks so much!