Love and Kindness Took Root
Take the time to sit back and enjoy what you have harvested. Your hard work has brought great rewards. The cultivated plants are now producing beautiful blooms, fruit, and vegetables. Similarly, at this step, we have gone through the work, time, and pleasures in producing a compassionate, kind, loving and giving child. What can make us happier!
Be grateful for what you have accomplished. Appreciation and gratitude are worthy attributes. It shows humbleness and humility. My parents lived through the great depression. I was raised where my parents appreciated everything we had in life. They conserved and acted on “green” principles before that terminology was verbalized. They didn’t waste anything to an extreme of borderline hording. I don’t believe we want to live a scarcity lifestyle, but I do believe we want to be thankful for all that is given to us and use it wisely.
Be the fruit and flowers of the spirit. What is this fruit of the spirit? According to the New International Bible, Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
I feel it’s important for our souls to live life to its fullest. Living life to the fullest means not living off the feelings of entitlement, privilege or whatever is the easiest path to journey. We tend to appreciate more the things we must work to obtain. Remember that if your plants are not growing and producing, they are dying. There are some stagnant times, but only for a short period.
The same goes for little human beings. They can continue to grow and thrive. Enjoy their beauty, all that you did to raise them, and the wonderful kind and compassionate person they turned out to be. Enjoy the moment. But don’t get too comfortable. It’s when we are the most uncomfortable that we learn and grow the greatest and the strongest. Continue to establish those deep, strong roots. Take steps outside the comfort zone to experience life to it’s fullest.
One of my favorite flowers is the lotus, not only for its beauty, but because of its life journey. I have several pictures of them throughout my house as a reminder of what they symbolize to me. This flower is rooted in the deep and sticky mud and eventually pulls itself out floating on top of the water gracefully opening its clean and colorful petals one by one. It is like the steps of cultivating a compassionate child. The principles, belief and values of a child are rooted in the thick, heavy, dirty soil. It’s not always easy rising out of the dirt to grow and thrive, but once they do, their compassion and beauty radiate with clarity and different colors, just like the lotus flower.
According to mindfueldaily.com, there are different truths of existence represented by a lotus. The first truth is Compassion, which is symbolized in the reddish color. It represents love and shows how the heart unfolds with time, one petal at a time. That’s what Cultivating Compassion in Children is all about, growing and unfolding one step at a time. The yellow-orange lotus represents Bravery and perseverance demonstrated in how it rises through the thick mud. The blue-purple lotus represents the Mind. Peace is represented by the light pink color lotus with the way it floats gracefully on top of the water. And finally, the White lotus represents wisdom and purity. These truths are a part of growing a compassionate child.
All plants grow through the dirt, and so do we. Think of the lotus and the spectacular outcome when you or your child feel stuck in the mud. Don’t shrink, shrivel and die, but instead, continue to expand, grow, and live! Appreciate and sense the warmth of the beauty beaming in front of you. Your compassionate child is an extraordinary reflection of you, the one who nurtured, cared, and cultivated them.
Sonja Wendt
Enhancing children’s sensitivity in human interactions one story at a time.
Author and Reading & Seeding Leader
Cultivating Compassion in Children Books Series
Books Available on Amazon: http://bit.ly/SonjaLangeWendt
©2021 sonjalangewendt All Rights Reserved
This is the eleventh step in the series of DIG IN, Steps to Cultivate Compassion in Children. The others are: 1) Let’s Talk Dirt 2) Plant Perennial Seeds of Compassion That Grow Deep Roots 3) How to Water the Seed with Compassion — Sprinkle Them with Knowledge 4) Why Growing Seeds Need Fertilizing – Nourish Understanding Feeding Compassion 5) Why Seeds Need Air as a Child Needs Breathing Room – Exhale Compassion 6) How Sunlight to a Plant is like Energizing Compassion in a Child 7) Why Spacing Plants Out and Giving Your Child Space Creates Room for Healthy Growth 8) Why Protecting Your Plants from Harm is Like Protecting Your Child from Danger 9) How Weeding Out the Bad in Your Child’s Life is Like Weeding a Garden 10) How Waiting for your Garden to Grow is Like Waiting for Your Child to Bloom with Compassion