The essence of nature

I saw a picture the other day. It was just a picture of a simple green shrub; but there, in the centre, glowing like a jewel, was one perfect coral pink heart-shaped leaf.

I know that, with the passing of the days into autumn, the whole plant will become a mass of red/pink/salmon colours, with tiny ruby-coloured fruit, but that first leaf, for me, symbolised the whole of nature and the miracle of growth and change.

So often, we see beauty, but pass it by without letting it touch us. A whisper of a bud on a rose bush, the first tiny fruit on a mango tree, or the first plump, red cushion on a banana plant go unnoticed.

It is in the nature of things that we value the harvest; the fruit of our labour, the lushness of mature rice fields, the massed richness of a full blossom, or the heaviness of fruit on the bough, but we fail to appreciate the beginning of all things.

We are infinitely practical in our lives, as we are in viewing nature, thinking of the future harvests for ourselves and our children. Planning forward for happiness, success, fame, and fortune. Our lives are spent in a race for the golden apple of our individual dreams, a race that never ends, because there is no end to desire and wanting.

For all of us, hope, aspirations, and striving are both necessary and right; but in those dreams and aspirations for our ultimate goals, we forget the nature of the cycles, and the natural order of things. Things must bloom, grow, and thrive, but in the end, the blossom must fall; the fruit must wither, and things must age and end, as all things do, except for time itself.

But there is always time. At the end of every bloom and harvest, there is a time of rest, a time of reflection and tranquility, when we can look forward to more quiet days and reflect on days past.

There is charm in the pursuit of the golden apples of life, but sometimes, we need to slow down, stop, look, and actually observe.

There is beauty in the rain, peace in the forests, and dreams in the stars. For me, the ultimate beauty is in the beginning of all things. It is the beauty in the bud that makes my heart sing.