The Tiny Seed

I've always been a bookworm.  I remember a time when I was in Middle School and my entire family left me parked in a chair in the basement with my nose buried in a book while they went out to dinner (out to dinner!)  WITHOUT me because I couldn't be roused.  They may as well have gone to Disneyland, as abandoned as I felt.  But seriously- it was The Alliance.  Which, in my family, was a yearly ritual for everyone above the age of twelve.

I love a good novel, but I will always love the simplicity of children's books.  Remember The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle?  One of my favorite books growing up. I mean, who doesn't want to read about a caterpillar that gets to gorge himself on a cupcake, an ice cream cone, one slice of cherry pie, swiss cheese, salami, chocolate cake and a lollipop.  And that's the short list!   Well, somewhere along the way, we acquired The Tiny Seed, also by Eric Carle.  I won't lie, it is a book that I find to be painfully long and dry, lacking all of the delicious food of the Very Hungry Caterpillar.  But my kids tend to be very concrete, and they love it.  So tonight, as I was reading it to Olivia at bedtime, I was suddenly struck by what an amazingly simple and beautiful metaphor for life it provides.  The tiny seed (smaller than all the rest) floats on the wind, eventually lands on the earth, waits out the winter, and grows into the tallest flower- taller than a house!  People come from far away to see because it is so grand.

It's not that I had never realized it before (although their concrete thinking has to come from somewhere, I guess) but I had just finished looking at the newest pictures of sweet, tiny Edith.  She weighed less than four pounds at birth and is just so unbelievably small and cute!  Delicate little fingers, and long skinny arms, she was born to two of the most amazing, faith-filled and inspiring people I know, my sister Nicole and her husband Matt.  Her twin, little Owen, was just as sweet and tiny and perfect and lived seven hours before passing on.  They knew his life here would be short and chose to be happy and grateful for the time they had with him here, no matter how short-lived as he would always be a very big part of their family.  Such grace and strength.  As I was looking at my little daughter tonight, so pretty and funny and loving, it struck me the great potential that we all have, both in this life and the next.  We don't know the challenges that we'll face, but we get glimpses of the incredible happiness that awaits us and we know that we all have potential to be great, taller than a house! 

So while The Tiny Seed will never indulge my love of all things tasty, I can honestly say that I have found a new love for it and it will always be a reminder of the greatness inside the smallest of us.  As I'm sure it was meant to be.

Pictures stolen from Facebook, taken by Karyn Nicoll, with Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep