a strange flower

There once was a flower, planted by a gardener. Now, this was no ordinary flower… in fact, it wasn’t even a particularly eye-catching flower… But the gardener knew what he was doing, when he chose it. He looked through all the kinds of flower seeds he could imagine, and decided to pick one that was different from the others around it. An unpredictable flower that didn’t grow in an expected way. This flower grew to its surroundings, not to a blueprint inside. Almost as if it was both unaware of its nature as a flower, and yet so very very aware…

 The stem of the flower was like a bizzare maze above the flower bed. Twisting and turning. Up and down, swelling bigger and smaller. Such a strange sight... If the wind blows left, it will grow left. If the sun shines, it will grow up. When there are clouds, it lowers and opens up to the rain like a sponge. With heavy winds, it bends. With snow, it’s roots go deep… This flower was not like the others in his garden so far. The others were much brighter, and healthier looking. They grew in a predictable way, which made for a beautiful garden bed.

But the gardener knew what he was doing when he chose to plant the unusual flower. You see,  When the wind blew, the flower bent to cover other flowers. When it opened up to the rain, it helped stop other flowers from drowning. When it grew left or right, it created wind-breaks for more delicate flowers. And with it’s deep roots, it would come back year after year, creating a better environment for hundreds of flowers to come…

But one day, the special flower looked around at the garden and was sad… The unique flower wanted to be like everyone else. So, the next time the winds blew, the flower stiffened it’s neck and grew a woody stem. When it rained, the flower closed up. When the sun shone, the flower decided to stay where it was, like all the other flowers. When the cold days approached, the flower shrunk back like everyone else…

As a result, many flowers broke in the wind. Others were scorched by the sun. Some even rotted from too much rain. Others, without the root protection of the special flower, were touched and harmed by frosty nights… Oh the special flower did look like the others now… Thirsty for sunshine, parched for rain… cold and shrunken… The flower looked so much like the other flowers, that the gardener couldn’t find it. “where is my special flower? The one I placed in my garden with a unique purpose?” he would say when he went out there.

It would only be a matter of time, before any decent gardener would uproot the rebellious flower and plant a new seed in it’s place… Let alone the perfect gardener. 

But as I just said, this gardener was perfect. And he DID manage to spy into the flowers and find a small, shrunken, woody stemmed plant that he didn’t recognize. It didn’t seem to have a purpose, and wasn’t what he had intended… little more than a weed amongst the flowers…

The perfect gardener though, he didn’t pull it out. No… instead he gave the flower room. He took the flower’s head and pointed it at the sun. He slowly bent the stem a little bit each day, until it was more flexible. He would stand in the pouring rain, to hold open the petals of the flower, so it could drink the rain. Yes…the gardener literally did all the work of the flower, until the flower could remember who it was…

The flower was made by the gardener with a purpose. And after what the gardener did for that little flower… well… That flower went on to be one of the most glorious and spectacular flowers in the garden. A flower the gardener was proud to announce to all who entered his garden “here is my special flower. I created her with a unique purpose, and she makes me proud.”