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Black-Eyed Peas Reveal Our Hidden Potential
This year I was able, after many years, to plant a vegetable garden. And I must say, I never realized how many lessons on elements of wellness one can learn from a home garden. Let me share a story with you.
As the calendar turned to 2012, my onion crop matured. Those less than pencil thin seedlings planted in August, (winter here in Cape Town, South Africa) had become well sized, perfect globes of yellow and red. The tall, plump, green blades had withered and collapsed, giving up their last bit of life after pouring all their energy into the growth of the bulb. Gently removing them from the soil they had called home, I gathered them up, laying the exposed bulbs in the sun to dry the outer layers in preparation for the veggie bin. I then carefully prepared the barren soil with fresh cow manure for the next crop. What would it be?
The options were plenty. Bush beans, eggplant, squash, celery, cabbage, and beans to name a few would all make great mid-summer choices; all fantastic elements of wellness. But I already had all of those actively growing and producing in the garden. I wanted something different, even something not common to South Africa. One look in the cupboard in preparation for dinner and I had my answer. Black-eyed peas.
It had taken me a year to find them, but over the holidays I had finally discovered these elements of wellness in a local shop and purchased 2 big bags. Oh how I love black-eyed peas, especially with the tender green snaps mixed in. This was exciting. But, would they sprout? Now days, most things are radiated, heated, processed to the point of no redemption. Was that true of these? I had hope simply because, on inspection of the bag, they had actually come from South Africa. Though hard to find, they were local. So, I made the decision to include them as the next elements of wellness in my home garden.
Laying out 4 rows in the newly prepped onion patch, making small holes with my broomstick handle, I dropped 2 peas in each hole before gently covering them with the fresh, organic soil. Setting the sprinkler to gently water them in, I stepped back with excited expectation, mixed with small measure of remaining uncertainty.
Two very short days later, every single pea is up and leafed out! Incredible. Those dormant elements of wellness sealed in a plastic bag had escaped sterilization through processing, had laid dormant for who knows how long on warehouse or store shelves. It would not be surprising then to discover that their potential had been banished. But no! Life remained and clearly it was eager to burst forth when given the right conditions. And so they have; burst forth with incredible and inspiring vigour, with hope and possibility.
Two days! That is all it took for those apparently lifeless seeds to become thriving elements of wellness in my garden with tremendous promise of harvest.
Isn’t this often true of us? It appears we have been over processed, sterilized by life and laid dormant for far too long, the result being that we now appear lifeless, hopeless with no perceived potential sitting on a shelf somewhere. But then, resulting from the careful, thankless and tireless preparation of our garden soil, a day finally comes and the people places, things and efforts of our lives line up and we find ourselves planted in just the right spot, well watered, and sun bathed. Almost instantly life emerges and in no time at all we explode through the fertile soil with intensity and vitality screaming of the potential for an abundant harvest soon to follow.
I witnessed it this week in the life of a friend whom I had known and followed for nearly a year now. Her story was and is powerful, impressive and inspiring. Like these black-eyed peas in my backyard veggie garden, she suddenly found herself planted in rich, fertile soil and that was all that she needed. The rest was already within her. It had just been released. Now she is looking at an incredible harvest of professional and financial success.
This can be your story to. The potential lies within you to release the elements of wellness in your life. With faithful cultivation and preparation, the day will come when you are planted in the soil you need for optimal growth and ultimately an abundant harvest.
So, the moral of the story is that the elements of wellness you seek, the all natural weight loss and natural healing that have been goals for years now, they are all there within you, ready to be released. You may think you are dried up, withered and wasted but hold on and soon your potential will be met!
Does this post resonate with you? Are you feeling like your potential has come and gone? Are you waiting patiently for your release? Leave your thoughts in the comment field below.
