Life Unfolding

If you look closely at the middle shoot on the Bird of Paradise plant, you can see that it has pushed itself up through a tiny space between two other already established ones. Once the new shoot detects a clearing...an opportunity to spread out...it begins to unfold one portion at a time. First the larger upper part of the leaf, then the lower smaller part. It has to be strong enough to spread it from behind the existing leaf in order to be fully open. It could have given up totally in the face of potential resistance, even failure or only allowed itself to grow the stalk and not push to unfold its fresh beautiful leaf because the other ones were stronger, greener and in its path. It could have been afraid it wasn't good enough to be in the company of such powerful forces around it. It could have...but it didn't. It recognized its own strength, beauty, and contribution to the whole and pressed on in the face of challenge to allow itself to open up completely. Now it stands tall as an equal part of the group ready for a new experience! NATURE...always sharing life lessons with us. How fortunate we are when we pay attention to its wisdom.