The Story of an Acorn

The week of Thanksgiving is always a reminder of the gift of truth I was given one year. While I did not see it as a gift at the time, I have come to understand that exactly what I needed to know was openly given to me.

One Thanksgiving, my memory of this experience led me to head outside for a walk. My inner compass led me up a hill by my home to a familiar place that I’d sat once before. Walking up the hill, I felt the weight of my journey from years past. I stopped at the top and sat on the ground between two trees. Immediately my eyes fell on the most prefect acorn I’ve ever seen.

Not wanting to disturb it, I let the acorn be, but my curiosity compelled me to pick it up and immediately these words came to me: This seed contains the potential of a tree. I smiled as I looked up at the trees strongly rooted next to me, imagining their potential inside this tiny seed. Many images and wonderings walked through my mind until I settled on a question:  What has been growing in you since the day you were born? What grows in you now?

I sat silently holding the tiny acorn, not more than 2 inches long, asking the same question of myself. What has been growing in me since the day I was born? In answer to this reflection I saw in my mind’s eye a white tree. First, she showed me the splendor of her blossoms and I sat and gazed for a while imagining sitting with her in full bloom.  Then she reminded me that things never stay the same as I saw spring turn to summer, fall and winter. Her foliage changing as each season passed.

The sun shone on my face and as I turned up towards its warmth, I felt filled with the knowledge of a message within me. Looking down at the ground, the acorn still in my hand, I noticed many more acorns all torn to pieces. Someone or many had a great feast with these seeds and ripped the potential right out from inside for their own means of being.

I became even more aware of the potential of this intact seed being the only one of its kind. I felt compelled to help it along, at least giving it a chance of coming into being. So I reached my fingers into the cool grass below until the dirt filled under my nails. I dug a hole and pushed the acorn down inside the cool damp earth. I imagined it hiding there for the winter in the warmth of the underground. I do not have words for what these actions mean to me and I am aware of a gentle, respectful and loving letting go.

On my anniversary of truth, I am aware of the difference and sameness of all things. We are all seeds planted on the earth to birth the gifts of our being into this life. Be it the acorn or the tree or any part of the journey in between, the creative process of how life unfolds is what calls us forward.

The MOVE STRONG METHOD views life as a journey towards expression of ourselves. Selfish though it may sound it is far from being self-centered. Your journey towards self-expression is an act of evolutionary self-preservation. The expression of your potential and gifts is what’s contained within the seed of your being. It is the ultimate expression of gratitude for life that you find what makes you powerful and share it in your own unique way with everything.