Monday, May 11, 2009

Through the Cracks


Isn't it funny how things can grow out of the most unlikely places? How can there be enough soil for this little plant to grow? I can tell you that the place I found this little guy receives very little sunlight. And I don't know how much rain water gets in there. Yet a tiny seed blew into that fine fracture in the stone and decided that this would be the ideal place to sprout and grow.

This is a marvelous planet. Life explodes out of every nook and cranny. It doesn't matter how inhospitable the space may seem...there is almost always some form of life that has adapted to live there.

There is an electrical box outside my door. A big ugly green box that used to be covered in ivy...until the power company came by and cleared it all away, much to my despair. But right now, as the ivy is trying so hard to regain its place on that box, right on top, in the center seam, a little plant (ok, it's a weed) is growing there! Right on top. On metal. On a box of electrical current.
How does that happen?

How do mushrooms grow out of door mats? How do baby maples spring to life on top of dead stumps or fallen trees? How do seeds break open and regenerate entire forests after the pine cone has been charred in a forest fire?

This may seem like a tiny insignificant little plant growing in this jagged crevice. But I think it is brave and strong. It has a will to see the light that has been pouring into that little crack since its early days, enticing it to poke its head out and see the big wide open world.

16 comments:

  1. sometimes when we don't see the light, we have to go looking for it....I believe that's how many plants live their lives and that we should take a lesson from them !!!

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  2. nature never ceases to amaze. there should be more people like you to take notice of such things.

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  3. Love how you've personified this tiny thing of a plant. So well considered...and such beautiful words to accompany this delicate image.

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  4. Such a lovely post. Thanks for reminding me!

    Cxx

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  5. Oh, mama Nature is so much stronger than we give her credit it for. I just know she laughs at how we agonize over her, while appreciating that we do. :) The ever-wonderful Michael used to work for an oil company - he would drive all day, checking oil rigs here & there. Today you cannot even tell where they were - when the oil companies closed them down, the plants & flowers & trees & earth just settled back in.

    :) Debi

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  6. the will to survive

    or rather thriveis startling in it's persistence

    and encouraging

    such a perfectly beautiful image
    you have captured

    i want to reach out

    and touch it

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  7. I love to see nature that way. Even on the old and sometimes newer buildings in my city, there is life at the top. Weeds and occasionally a wild flower just sitting there in a chimney pot.

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  8. I admire the will-power of little premature babies to survive against all odds. I am also amazed at the regeneration of the Australian bush after horrific and devastating bushfires. In no time, there are trees sprouting again and signs of new life.

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  9. I love all the questions you ask! It is amazing the determination and will to survive, even for a tiny seed. Beautiful post.

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  10. :) thanks for that beautiful reminder, i love seeing little plants growing out of gutters and other places.

    i smiled, inside and out

    :)

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  11. Sweetheart,

    Amazing words,and,amazing picture.

    It looks like a closeup of the lips of a stone Buddha, warming this tiny plant with his breath.

    You make me see the beautiful things that i miss out....

    You point out to me the broader horizon where the fingers of love write awesome things.

    You show me that heaven is in everyday.

    Jaime, the gentleness in you is a trace of light that leads me to the ever growing beauty of existence.

    So let me wrap you like a glow worm in my lantern.

    Besides this, there are millions of things i could say to you for different reasons.

    Jaime, you are more than beautiful!

    love

    j

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  12. so tiny and yet so ingenious in it's will to thrive rather than just survive as maddie says. sometimes in my life i have felt like that little green shoot, all squished up and working so hard just to get a little light and air. but that little weedling is really more like an angel. there to remind us that it although growing may be hard sometimes and there is darkness for certain it is all intended to strengthen and prepare us or being out in the world like big kids one day!
    love to you my dearest jamie. you are such a true blue girlfriend :)
    xox

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  13. Your posts are beautiful. Perhaps this plant is teaching us, that all we need is a tiny foothold to thrive. So when things don't seem to be as they ought to be, perhaps it is time to revisit this post and take courage. Have a nice weekend.

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  14. What is most beautiful to me is that you have noticed such a tiny and precious little plant. Maybe that too is it's strength, it made you notice. Beautiful photo.

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  15. Truly it represents the paradox that life is. Delicate and resilient at the same time.
    A miracle indeed.

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  16. So great to catch up with your writing and photos! Wisdom and simplicity combine to lighten my day.

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