Sunflower Seeds

My daughter and I planted sunflower seeds today. It was a bright, clear blue sunny day and we walked down to our allotment, picnic packed. My hand held onto her perfect little warm one as we set off to sow some seeds together. Sometimes in life, you have to face your fear. My opportunity came along this week, and with it the question: "Will you be yourself or will you doubt yourself? Will you love yourself or hurt yourself in order for other people's needs to be met?" I feel I have come to a point in my life now, where I can truly say that I am the most important person in my life. A consequence of it is that I love others and I see their hearts much more clearly than before, that I am more generous and giving... but only where I can be freely me. If I have to compromise that, it hurts and I close down. I have come to a point where I cannot, not will not do this anymore. So back to the seeds. We dug deep into the soil, it was tangled with roots so we threw it away. We placed fresh, fertile compost in our trench and then watered the soil carefully. We were now ready to plant the tiny seeds. We made holes 1/2 inch deep into the soil 18 inches apart and planted two tiny seeds per hole. The weaker plant will be pulled up when the sunflower seedlings appear. As I am writing this, I am realising how important it is to take care of your dreams... if dreams are like seeds then they need a lot of love and care. They need to be placed into a snug dark hole for awhile. Hidden and safe. They need nourishing, they need rain, they also need sunshine. Sometimes we have to loose ourselves into our dreams. We have to protect and nourish them no matter what. We must not sacrifice them. We must face our fear. In facing our fear, we are choosing love, we are believing that we are valuable and that life is about living. One day there will be a beautiful yellow flower, full of tiny seeds. From that one tiny dream, there will be a multitude of fruit. It is worth the rain, the pain and the darkness. It is worth everything to be fully yourself.