sprouts

I had plans to share a thoughtful essay about my heart exploding night with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band this past Friday, but I haven’t been able to settle down my thoughts enough to say what I mean to say.

Instead, I offer a quick glimpse into why I continue to feel hope and choose to plant seeds for a beautiful new world in the face of the unrelenting chaos around us. I full heartedly believe glimmers matter, that inspiration will save us, and that the heart of humanity is good.

And what could be a better symbol of inspiration and possibility than tiny seedlings just burst into light from the cold dark ground?

I was lying down on my driveway soaking up some of the first truly warm rays of spring here in the PNW when I turned to my side and noticed dozens of these tiny sprouts. In the fall, this beautiful tree friend of mine drops his leaves and a multitude of tiny helicopters. Over the winter, they bury beneath the soil, and then pop out one fine day in April.

This is the parent tree here - I love this tree very much. The seedlings sit directly below this large leafy gorgeous beauty. I measure days, seasons, and years by this tree’s color and size; he’s a constant in back to school photos and other such life markers.

But this time it was those sprouts that caught my eye. And then my heart. And also my spirit. Every single big idea or masterpiece out there was once a tiny sprout of an idea. An idea that was born in the dark, tended to quietly, and then, when ready, released into the wild.

Also inspiring - eagles. The legendary eagle begins tiny too, just a little sprout of bird. These young ones hatched Easter weekend, Mother Nature delivering perfection yet again.

(This eagle family is part of Friends of Big Bear Valley - you can watch at this link. Shout out to my mom for sending me updated photos and alerting me of their arrival!)

We need more sprouts and eagle babies. We need more hope, we need more infinite possibility, we need to prioritize the babies, sprouts, and ideas that take root in our hearts.

That’s the world I’m calling in. One where infinite potential is cared for and protected, where nature and children and babies are first on the list, nurtured and nourished, so that they may dance their very own dream of life.

That’s the seed of limitless possibility I’m planting today. And I’m going to care for it with all of my heart until it bursts into the sunshine and becomes.