Unique

Each and every person who is, who was, and is to be, is unique and somehow different from everyone else. Isn't this amazing?! That there are no two people exactly the same.

 

We see things differently, do things differently, learn things differently, understand things differently.

 

I'm the kind of person who often notices little things which are happening around me, and constantly liken one occurance with another (sometimes seemingly obviously different).



 

I would like to share with you a lesson I once learnt from a Banksia.

This is a type of Banksia which can be found near where I am from in Australia

Banksia's can be found amidst a quite dry landscape proudly supporting their unique flowers which also happen to be full of nectar attracting many native birds and insects. Growing up surrounded by beekeeping I was taught to pay careful attention to Banksia plants. (They often look like shrubs but are actually more like small trees).

 

It will appear to be a good strong plant and then gradually year after year it will begin to produce less flowers, attract less wildlife, it's like it has become so comfortable in its current position that it is no longer as effective in its role as it was initially.

 

Then a fire comes and burns everything in its wake. Everything suffers. Many plants are destroyed never to grow again, however many recover also. The Banksia is nothing but a black skeleton of what used to be there.

 

After a fire it takes time for the landscape to recover, and to begin to grow again. It is quite a sight to pass by an area which has been ravaged by fire, charcoal trunks everywhere, but out of such a forlorn and darkened picture you see fresh new green growth in just as many places.

 

The Banksia looks no different to the rest of the plants in the way some of regrowing and some are not, however some time later when you look closer you notice all the fresh new growth from the soil, and where there were just one or two plants, now the area has many of these plants.

 

There is an interesting fact about some Banksia plants though (which is also true of some other plants) and that is that it cannot release it's seeds unless it is first burnt - swallowed up by fire.

A burn Banksia (with open seed pods)

 

Sometimes we too are like a Banksia, we get too comfortable with where we are and stop growing properly, doing what we're actually made to do. But then a fire comes along, or a trial or hard times, and we get burnt. It hurts and we're not the same as what we were before, and sometimes wonder why such a thing need happen. But then, the miraculous thing is that we do get past it, and we do begin to grow - more than what we could before, and in a way which affects more than just us but also those around us. The hurt, or the trial, or the hard times, it burns us, but in that it also opens us up.

 

This is the lesson I learnt from a Banksia.

 

God Bless