Little Miracles

I was thinking the other day, as I was holding a tiny egg with its inhabitant's beak breaking through, what a miracle is contained in such a minute thing.  The little chicken grows inside and knows just the right time to pip its way out to meet a new and exciting world.  The same can be said for most seeds.  Inside that small package is a life force, an eager embryo, awaiting the proper conditions in order to spring forth.  In both cases the end result is the genesis of life, new birth.

There is never a more proud moment on the farm than when one observes this process first hand.  Whether it is an egg from your flock of birds or a seed that you have incubated in the earth, the satisfaction is the same.  When I experienced my first farm hatch, I stood in complete amazement like a proud papa scarcely able to leave my new children's "bedside."  So, I know exactly how the farmer or gardener can easily feel that the power of creation comes from their own ability or strength.  Do not the wild birds hatch out broods without the help of a farmer?  Do not the wayside plants give forth life all on their own? 

A farmer or gardener is a mere participant and observer of a power much higher.  Even these small things strive for life.  With that in mind, consider the life force that is within us.  It is as a fire burning within.  Like a flower that emerges from the soil grows and fights adverse growing conditions to eventually burst forth in bloom giving rise to new life, may we also have that same force within us that drives us to blossom.  There are many types of flowers as there are many types of people.  Some will excel in certain areas or conditions while others another.  But just as a beautiful blooms, so are we each one unique. 

Many try to farm their lives.  They try to mold themselves into a desired end.  Does an emerging seeding have a choice in the species it will become?  Does the chick?  It was already determined by the higher power.  We, too, cannot fight to become what we are not, but rather strive to bloom into what we are intended to be.  If life can be tucked into the package of a seed or of an egg, why would one not trust the maker of such miracles with their own life?

Standing at the chicken coop, I had to come to the realization that I had very little to do with what took place inside.  I was certainly a part of the equation, but just a small part.  That is one thing I love about the farm.  Yes, I have things that I would love to accomplish, but ultimately in many ways this place I love surrenders to something different, what it yearns to be.  There are cycles that I do not control, life and death, nature.  These things are out of my control.  But there are times like observing the egg and the seed, that I can hold that amazing power in my hand and dream of what it could be.