“What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well.”

– Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Last week, my friend, MerryME, wrote about her visit to the Treaty Oak in Jacksonville, Florida.  She included a photo of the massive tree; and as a lover of oak trees, I have to say that it was breathtaking.  She also included a shot of some acorns that lay at the foot of the 250-year-0ld tree; and I imagined a time, 250 years ago, when a tiny acorn from another long-dead tree found its way deep enough into the ground to sprout, giving birth to an oak of phenomenal size that now shades its own acorns.

I am not one who cries easily; but I must admit that the beauty of this wonderful and ultimate expression of one acorn brought tears to my eyes.  (Thanks, Merry…I borrow your picture here)

Not every acorn that falls to the ground takes root and grows a giant tree.  Not every traveler in a desert uncovers a well that allows him to drink.  Not every person searches deep enough within himself to discover and release the potential for creation that is part of who he is.

What captivates me when I see this tree is that it began as an acorn — one acorn that held inside it a tree that now is named Treaty Oak.  Now that is potential!  If we take it a step further, we see that the tiny acorn that grew this tree contained far more than that.  How many acorns do you suppose have fallen from this tree over its 250-year life span?  How many of them have fed animals?  How many have been collected and planted and cultivated to grow other trees?  I’m thinking that the original acorn contained the tree and all those other trees as well.

We do not live in isolation in our universe; so every time each of us digs deep to the core of our own potential, we send out ripples that touch others.  Like the many generations of acorns, those ripples of realized potential spread farther than we are able to imagine.  Perhaps ours will be the ripple that stirs the sleeping potential of another person and another and their ripples also spread to others.

There is so much more beauty in an acorn than just its interesting exterior.  There is so much more beauty in a tree than just its form and its leaves.  There is so much more to each of us than we can see by looking in a mirror.  This week a large oak tree sent out a ripple that touched my buried potential and caused it to stir.  We must all share the beauty that lies within us and send our ripples to awaken others.

“What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well.”