Daily Mystic Messages - The Olive Tree
I wanted to share another poem from Swami Parthasarathy's Select English Poems. This one by Sabine Baring-Gould.
You'll see some of these poems scattered throughout the Mystic's Message for Self Love because they're so simple and insightful. This one is called, "The Olive Tree." The poem...
Said an ancient hermit bending
Half in prayer upon his knee,
'Oil I need for midnight watching,
I desire an olive tree.'Then he took a tender sapling,
Planted it before his cave,
Spread his trembling hands above it,
As his benison he gave.But he thought, the rain it needeth,
That the root may drink and swell;
'God! I pray Thee send Thy showers!'
So a gentle shower fell.'Lord! I ask for beams of summer
Cherishing this little child.'
Then the dripping clouds divided,
And the sun looked down and smiled.'Send it frost to brace its tissues,
0 my God!' the hermit cried.
Then the plant was bright and hoary,
But at evensong it died.Went the hermit to a brother
Sitting in his rocky cell:
'Thou an olive tree possessest;
How is this, my brother tell?''I have planted one and prayed,
Now for sunshine, now for rain;
God hath granted each petition,
Yet my olive tree hath slain!'Said the other, 'I entrusted
To its God my little tree;
He who made knew what it needed
Better than a man like me.Laid I on Him no conditions,
Fixed no ways and means; so I
Wonder not my olive thriveth,
Whilst thy olive tree did die.'
What I take away from this poem, and there is a lot here to be sure, but what I take away has to do with trying.
Both had a beautiful intention; to use the oil for their midnight prayers.
One hermit tries really hard and his tree dies. Another leaves it up to God/Nature/Providence and his tree thrives.
I think sometimes we try so hard to be the best version of ourselves. Or to be the way we THINK we're supposed to be, and inside we just feel more trapped and frustrated. And little parts of ourselves get cut off and wither.
It's like the hermit who's trying to do all the right things but it goes all wrong.
It's the faith of the second hermit that allows him to get out of his own way so his tree can thrive.
His trust that inside that little sapling is a beautiful amazing olive tree, and nature knows exactly what it needs to get it there.
So today I want to remind you that inside you is the Divinity in Disguise. And if you trust yourself and trust that nature doesn't make mistakes, you can get out of your own way to let yourself thrive.
Because just being you- fully and freely you- is the greatest gift you could give to the world.
Thrive little sapling.
Thrive...