Be a Goldenrod!

  When you come to think of it, plants are pretty resilient.  They can be battered to the ground yet still push back with new growth.  They can be wilted flat with the lack of water and yet let a small rain come they bounce back with renewed vigor.  Plants can pretty well be neglected, mangled and mutilated yet with a wee bit of encouragement, they survive.  It is that will to survive that lets them cling on in the most direst of situations.

  This afternoon during a short break in the rains, I headed to the pier.  It was there that I spied some rather hardy plants enduring some pretty harsh growing conditions.  It is hard to comprehend that plants can flourish with their roots soaked in saltwater.   Across the Bayou,  a splash of brilliant yellow told me that a whole patch of goldenrod was doing rather well even though the roots were embedded in a saltwater laden marsh.  The plants were doing so well, in fact, that they rivaled some of the plants in a well tended nursery.  These, goldenrod plants, however, had never known the love and attention that most garden plants receive.  The seeds were scattered haphazardly by the wind or birds then the tiny plants took root and grew.  The blooms told me that the next generation of goldenrod will be strong and sturdy!  The new plants will beat the odds and grow well in the marsh.  

  It is too bad we cannot do the same.  It is hard for us to adapt to our surroundings and flourish after being put in a position that is not to our liking.  Most of us wither and become fragile under harsh circumstances. It is the rare person that pushes to flourish when things are not perfect.  Be a goldenrod!  Grow where you are planted and flourish!  Bloom and make a difference in this old world!