The time for planting has finally arrived after months of bone-chilling winds, early evenings, and mountains of snow. Flowers are beginning to bloom, temperatures are starting to stabilize, the sun lingers a little longer in the sky, and animals are reappearing. It’s in this season that many green thumbs return to their gardens — a practice we can learn a lot from.
Planting is a process — simple or complex, depending on what you’re growing — but a process nonetheless. To produce a flower, a fruit, a tree, or whatever it is you hope to see, you have to prepare your soil, plant your seed, and care for it until what you planted
begins to bloom.
Recently, I heard a childhood story about my aunt planting a mango tree when she was no more than six years old. Her desire to plant came after an afternoon when her dad — my grandfather — brought home a handful of mangoes from the market. He offered her one, and it was, as she described, the sweetest and juiciest mango she had ever tasted.
After her last bite, she knew she wanted more.
“Dad, I want more of these mangoes,” she said. My grandfather immediately offered her another from the batch, but she refused. She wanted one exactly like the one she had just eaten. In that moment, my grandfather taught her what planting meant. He explained that planting the seed from that fruit was the surest way to get more mangoes like it.
Though she was young, she planted the seed, watered it daily, and eventually, a small tree began to grow — offering her more of what she loved. Hearing this story made me realize that the planting process isn’t limited to greenery and vegetation; it applies to our lives as well. Think of your body, mind, and spirit as soil. The seeds are the daily investments you make with your time and energy, and the fruit is the result of those investments. So the question becomes: what are you planting in your life right now?
Worry? Doubt? Anxiety? It’s easy to plant these seeds during difficult seasons. But once you understand that what you plant will eventually grow, it becomes a reminder to be mindful of what you allow to take root. Because once those roots begin to form and
settle into the soil, it’s not so easy to undo what’s been planted. Roots run deep. You might think that once your “tree” grows, you can simply cut it down or reshape it into something different. But no matter how many times you trim or prune it, as long as the root remains, it will continue to grow back. So if you plant worry, what do you expect to grow? If you constantly surrender your mind to anxious thoughts, what do you think your life will begin to reflect?
This is why it’s so important to plant good seeds — seeds of joy, hope, faith, and expectation — regardless of the season you’re in. But it’s also important to remember that fruit doesn’t appear the moment a seed is planted. Choosing to think or live differently is only the first step. The waiting comes next.
My aunt’s seed didn’t become a tree overnight. There was a season where she had to water it, tend to it, and trust the process — and that’s often the hardest part. It would be much easier if we could immediately step into the lives we envision for ourselves, but
growth takes time. That’s just the nature of it.
We have to give ourselves the space to grow into who we’re becoming, just as growth happens beneath the soil before anything is visible above ground. You may stumble in the waiting. You may grow impatient. But get back up, keep tending to your soil, and trust that the fruit will come.
In my aunt’s case, the tree she planted didn’t just benefit her. What started as a small plant eventually grew so large that it had to be moved from a pot inside the house to the backyard of their childhood home. Over time, it produced so many mangoes that my
great-grandmother used them to make snacks and treats, creating a second source of income. That tree still exists today, continuing to provide sweet mangoes for others. What that shows me is this: good fruit — whether literal or metaphorical — doesn’t just benefit us. It has the power to bless the people around us as well.
So even if you don’t feel ready, take the time to begin your planting process. You might be surprised by the fruit you grow and how it becomes a blessing, not just for you, but for everyone connected to you.
~ Shanaé H.
