It's a bright, sunny day. A small cup sits on the kitchen window sill, full of dirt. A child stares expectantly at the dirt.
"When will it grow?" asks the child, as he waters the dirt.
"Be patient, it takes time," responds the parent.
"Okay," says the child, skeptical that he's being told the truth.
After an hour or two sitting at the window sill, staring, the dirt remains unmoved. The boy leaves his spot and goes to play with his toys. He received a new dinosaur for his birthday a few weeks ago.
Over the next two days, the child continues in this manner. Sitting at the window sill, waiting, unsure what will happen. Making sure to water the dirt.
On the third day, it rained. The boy went to check the cup of dirt and was surprised to see a small green chute coming out of it. Excitedly, he ran to his parent and said, "look, look! It grew!"
His parent responded, mirroring the boy's excitement, "look at that!"
The boy spent the next three hours energetically watching the small green chute. The small green chute stood, slightly tilted to one side, and returned the boy's stare.
Over the next three days, the child continues watching and watering the plant each day. Again, the boy goes to play with his dinosaurs, his excitement dulled by the lack of growth.
The following day, the boy noticed that the chute was considerably bigger than a few days ago. It was strange how suddenly that chute shot up. Once again, excitement. "Look how tall it is!" exclaimed the boy. "Yes, it's grown so much!" responds the parent.
The child continues watching the plant each day. For another two days, the boy excitedly waters and stares. For the next two days, the boy waters and stares with a bit less energy.
"Why did it stop growing? Is it dead?" asks the boy.
The parent asks, "do you remember when your plant was just a cup of dirt?"
"Yes," responds the boy, recalling that sunny day a couple of weeks prior.
The parent follows with, "do you remember when your plant was short?"
"Yes," responds the boy, recalling the short chute that had appeared, much to his excitement.
"Well then, you need to trust in the process. Give it time – beautiful things grow at their own pace," replies the parent.
"How long will it take?" asks the boy.
"Think about how the cup of dirt suddenly turned into a short plant and that short plant suddenly turned into a taller plant. You won't always notice the growth, but it's there. Keep watering your plant and checking it and you'll know when it's ready," explains the parent.
"Okay," says the boy, running to grab his watering can.
--
"Look, look, look! It grew!!" exclaims the boy.
"What?" responds the parent as they wake up.
"Look at my plant! It became a flower! Look!" says the child, energetically displaying the cup of dirt.
The flower's beautiful orange petals were glowing in the early morning's light. The green chute had transformed into a beautiful flower.
"It's so beautiful," reflects the parent.
"Look what I did!" says the boy, grabbing his parent's hand.
"I already see," responds his parent.
"No, come here!"
"Okay," says the parent, following the boy
Entering the kitchen, there are now ten cups of dirt on the window sill, lined up edge to edge. There is one gap in the line.
The child runs and places the cup he's holding to fill the gap. He then dashes to his watering can and goes down the line, gingerly adding water to each of the cups. He stops briefly at the grown flower's cup and admires it for a moment, before continuing to water the rest of the cups.
"The flower grew! I know these flowers will grow too – I just have to wait, water, and believe, even if it doesn't seem like they're growing," observes the boy.
His parent smiles, nods, and looks at the beautiful flower that had bloomed on the window sill.
This post is part of the Daily Blogging Challenge – this week is a warmup and the full challenge will kick off in March. Thanks to Chris Hannah for sharing the challenge and Jeff Perry for organizing it!
Photo by Dalibor Perina on Unsplash