In my backyard, there’s a big, beautiful mango tree.
It’s about 20 or 30 feet tall and almost as wide. The trunk is too thick to put my arm around. It’s a real tree.
It made me think of something I wanted to share with you. This giant tree came from a single seed.
I didn’t plant the seed.
I didn’t take care of it.
I didn’t choose to have this tree in my life.
Yet it’s here. And it’s a very vivid, living reminder of a person who’s no longer here. Every day I get to sit in the shade of this mango tree.
Soon, my children will enjoy the fruit from a tree that their grandfather planted before they were born.
He had no idea they were going to exist, he was just experiencing life as he knew it. He was a horticulturist and loved plants (and mangos.)
A single seed has had an impact spanning two generations - and more to come.
In fact, I wrote you this email while sitting under the tree.
The man that planted the seed all those years ago has now helped so many more people than he ever could have imagined. Thousands of strangers on the internet are benefitting from the day he planted that seed. And he’d be proud of that.
I bet you would, too.
Throughout our conscious experience, we make connections. These connections are just like the mango seed. And just like any seed, all we can do is drop it in and hope for the best.
In our connections, we can leave a seed of:
Knowledge
Happiness
Wisdom
Motivation
Faith
Love
It’s not something we try to do, it just happens on its own.
Those seeds are a living, breathing representation of the strength of the human spirit and the importance of connecting during our time on earth.
I hope you’re able to connect and grow with the people in your life this evening.