The Little Acorn
Once upon a time, there was a little acorn. The acorn didn’t feel very good about itself because it was so small and kind of nutty. It felt scared a lot, out in the forest all alone. What good was such a teeny thing in such a big, looming world anyway? At any moment, someone might come along and step on it or a squirrel might fancy it as a little snack and then, poof! It would all be over. The little acorn had no idea who it really was.
After years of not knowing the truth of its being or what it was even there for, the acorn began to ponder itself. She would spend endless hours looking around the forest, carefully contemplating each thing she saw. The acorn began to realize that each object was unique and had a purpose all its own. The leaves helped the trees breathe. The sun brought warmth and the moon brought sleep. The stream was a cozy home for fish and other slimy things while at the same time a drinking fountain for the animals that lived on the land. The bees carried pollen from one flower to another making sure that more would grow. The worms gave themselves up for food to hungry birds. The birds would poop and spread seeds. Who would have thought poop had a purpose???
The acorn also noticed that although each thing had an individual purpose, that all things were working together and created a beautiful, harmonious dance called LIFE!
“Well,” thought the little acorn one day, “If everything in the forest has a purpose, so must I!” and with that, the little acorn would tuck down its little cap and ask over and over, “Who am I and what purpose do I serve?”
It seemed like eons went by. The little acorn grew very sad because her question never seemed to elicit an answer, no matter how many times she asked! She made that mean all kinds of things about herself, that she wasn’t as good as all the rest of the other objects in the forest, that something was wrong with her or that she had been completely forgotten by the maker of all things in the forest. Surely she must not be as special as the others who all seemed to know who they were and what their jobs were. She would often ask the other things what they thought of her, but their answers were never very satisfying. She decided that she was nothing and good for nothing, and with that, she got very sad for a very, very, very long time.
She tried to distract herself with all kinds of things to make her happy, listening to the birds talk about each other, playing hide and go seek in the pine needles and making up stories in her mind. Her happiness was very short lived however and it seemed she would always return to a place of emptiness where she was terrorized by the fearful thoughts in her mind.
One evening, just about dusk, the acorn asked for the six thousand and six hundred and seventy second time, then nodded off to that place in between sleep and wakefulness. She listened to her thoughts drifting by, but all of a sudden, there was something else there. She noticed there was a space between each thought and that the space was silent. The thoughts were arising out of silence! She had never been aware of this before and listened intently to it. She noticed that it went on and on and on, and that all the sounds in the whole forest were contained in it, maybe all sounds forever and ever, Amen! It was the biggest thing she ever experienced before and figured certainly that this must be the Maker of the forest itself!
Without thinking, she asked with the most sincerity she could muster, “Who am I and what I am here for?” The question rang into the grandness of the silence like it was the only thing that had ever been asked.
And then she listened. She listened with all her might.
All of a sudden, a silky voice arose out of the silence. “Do you see those trees above you, little acorn?” it asked.
The acorn was shocked and looked up.
“Those really BIG ones, you mean?”
“Yes, the really big ones.” The voice laughed.
“Yeah, I see them…”
“That’s what you are and you are here to give shelter to all other living things in the forest when you get big enough to do so. You are an Oak Tree, little acorn.”
“What? I AM? I am the biggest thing in the whole forest? But I’m little!”
“For now you are. You just need to grow a little bit. A lot bit.”
“But how? How do I grow? I do not know how to grow.”
“This is not your concern, little acorn. That’s my job. Your job is to relax, listen to me and enjoy the process.”
“Huh? There’s nothing I have to do but relax and listen? It’s that simple?”
“If you let it be, it is. If you try to be something you’re not before you’re ready thought, it’ll hurt. Your job, until you’re a full grown oak tree is to love where you are and trust where you are going. It is inevitable. You were always an oak tree, whether you knew it or not.”
“Well, how do I relax?”
“You just smile when you have growing pains, be very gentle and remember. Above all, remember who you are and why you’ve come. You’ve gotten into a pretty bad habit of listening to what you’re not, so it may take a little doing, but that’s okay. Baby steps. Always baby steps.”
“I’m a baby! I’m a baby Oak Tree! I’M A BABY OAK TREE EVERYONE!” the little acorn cried to the whole forest, “And I have come to give shelter to all of you! WOW!” The little acorn sighed, “ Who knew?”
“I did.” said the voice. “Anything else you’d like to ask while I’ve got your attention?”
“Yeah. Why didn’t you answer me all those times before?”
“I did. You were just so busy trying to figure it all out, that you forgot how to listen.”
“You were always here?”
“Sure was. You just didn’t notice.”
“And you’ll always be here?”
“Yeah. We’re like, uh, inseparable.”
“What does that mean?” asked the little acorn.
“It means that I’m closer then near. Always was. Always will be. Now I think it’s time for little acorns to rest and get ready for what’s coming.”
The little acorn pulled down her little cap and smiled. “You sure there’s nothing I can do to help things along a little bit?”
“I am positive. You mind your business and I’ll mind mine. You rest and enjoy the ride as much as possible. Don’t fight it or rush me. I’ll take care of everything else. Easy peasy one two three.”
The little acorn giggled. “One two three…That feels nice.”
“Sweet dreams, little Oak Tree.”
“Sweet dreams, big, uh… what do I call you exactly?”
“Oh, nothing really. Nothing at all.”
This post is courtesy of Donna L. Stevens, www.donnaloustevens.com, 2011 all rights reserved
