The Tale of Three Trees

Photo Art by veziphoto @ DeviantArt

The Tale of Three Trees

Once there was a Great Tree who grew the most magnificent fruits. The tree  could feel he was getting old and wouldn't be able to stay much longer. One summer when his fruit was ripe, he told three different people who came to him with baskets to collect his bounty, to take what they could but the very last fruit they placed in their basket must be set aside to plant and grow a new tree.

Each of the three he implored to take on this task, agreed.

The Great Tree quietly died the following winter, leaving the people wondering where they would get fruit now.

The first farmer planted the seed from the first fruit he picked from the great tree.

The second farmer planted the seed from a fruit that had gotten damaged during transport.

The third farmer had carefully set aside the very last piece of fruit they had picked from the Great Tree, as was instructed by the elder. It was the seed from this fruit that the third farmer planted.

The seeds, not being ordinary, sprang forth from the ground very quickly and produced fruit the next summer.

The fruit from the first farmer's tree was small and would never ripen.

The fruit from the second farmer's tree looked delicious, but all of it was rotten inside.

The fruit from the third farmer's tree looked and tasted exactly like that of the Great Tree who had died.

Because the third farmer had listened to the Great Tree and followed his instructions, the fruit their tree bore was sweet, delicious, and abundant.

That fall, the spirit of the Great Tree came back to see the results. He caused a great wind to destroy the first tree but let the second one stand as a lesson in what happens when you don't follow the guidance given.

We are all given inner guidance. Sometimes we have to still ourselves to hear it. That inner guidance is our "God within" trying to help us become the best version of ourselves so that the fruit we bear will be nourishing and sweet to those we offer it to. We need to listen to that guidance and not consider it "optional", because doing so could have unwanted consequences.

Our choices matter.

Written by Oktobre Taylor
August 23, 2018