Metaphor, Day 17

I was taking a tracking course one time and small groups were taking turns reporting about their particular area of woods they had mapped.  One person in the group would be asked to stand up and report on some specific aspect of there area, such as, "tell us about trails and runs" in your area or "who are the animals in your area and what are they doing there?"  We went through about four or five rounds of questions that you might expect with each round getting a bit more difficult for us to answer.  Then we got down to what was going to be our last round and I was asked by the instructor what the metaphor of our land was.  The metaphor?  I wasn't really sure how to respond.  This was past my edge.  I tried answering, but was really getting at the question and was asked once again, what was the metaphor of our land.  I still didn't know how to answer.  After some fumbling words the instructor let me off the hook and said, "I really didn't expect you to be able to answer that." but he wanted us thinking about it.

Whether you can answer it or not, I want you to think about what the metaphor of your plant is.  Symbolically what does your plant represent or mean right now?  Let me give you an example of the type of thing I mean.  I had a sit spot during a course once that was up in a large forked tree.  It was a time in my life when I was trying to understand how my wilderness studies and my faith studies related to one another.  I had two different communities because of these studies.  They seemed at times, if not unrelated, even antagonistic toward one another.  Over the course of the week, I came to realize that my sense of separation of these two things was really artificial and mostly in me.  It was a perception and and not a reality.  My tree became the catalyst for this awareness.  I realized that when I was sitting in the tree, if I hyper-focused on either branch of the fork, then it looked like its own tree.  However, if I drew back and looked at the bigger picture I realized they were parts of the same thing.  It was so symbolic to what I was experiencing and it helped me integrate my understanding of these different yet same aspects of my life.

So, what about your plant?  May be it is not coincidental that you were led to that particular plant.  Perhaps, its not coincidental that I am asking you to consider how it may be a metaphor of something for you.  To get at the metaphor of your plant I am going to ask you to do the following.  

1) Think about your life right now.  What is something tugging at your attention?  What is an issue that is quietly or maybe not so quietly tugging at your thoughts?  Wrap your mind around this?  You can even do this as your just driving to work or taking a shower or something.  It doesn't necessarily have to be at your plant.

2)  With whatever you identified, go hang out near your plant and take a good look at it.  How does your plant symbolize  or emulate this issue on your mind?  May be your plant has been terribly wounded in the past but has recovered and is stronger for it and you have are in a similar state.  May be your plant is going through a terrible growth.  Or, struggling to reach for life.  Or, full of lots of green but showing no signs of fruit.  You get the idea, how is your plant a metaphor right now for you personally.

3)  If something meaningful comes to mind, then you have received a gift.  Be thankful for your gift.  Express your thanks for it.