Our children are precious flowers

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This picture is from our nature walk yesterday. Now, reflect with me for a minute. Look at how close they are to each other, probably getting the same nutrients, the same amount of rain and sun, facing the exact same challenges, both are of the same kind yet they seem so different… One of them has moved on from being a flower to a full grown dandelion ready to scatter the seeds and the other one is still busy with its struggle to become a complete flower. They are both beautiful in different ways. Isn’t it amazing? How arrogant would it be for someone to say that one is better than the other. Or to pass a judgement that one has not arrived in time.. Once I had plucked a flower which looked a lot like the yellow one and brought it home. Did you know what happened to it? It closed back in. Within a few hours it looked like a bud again…
I plucked it before it was ready…. Our children are not very different. They grow in their abilities in their own time. We cannot force them to be ready for something they are not. They came with a internal time table. We can only provide the nourishment they need and let them find their way. They will be ready in their own time… it’s only a matter of time. It is their right upon us that we do not coerce them.
I hope I never forget the one I had plucked before it was ready… I should have given it time because if I had left it undisturbed… it would surely have grown to its glory… all by itself… in its own time. Gardeners don’t force open the buds… all they do is nourish.