tree in blossom

I am sitting by a stream, in the foothills of the Himalaya. Around me, some parakeets are dancing and chirping. On the other side of the stream I see a tree: a small tree covered in white blossom, perhaps cherry, I can't tell from this distance. But this white blossom is an amazing sight, standing out against the greens of leaves and fields. And looking at this tree, I feel almost speechless. The tree is so totally covered with flowers, it seems there is not a spare inch of branch or twig that does not hold one of the blossoms. It is truly amazing.

And seeing this tree, of course, it reminds me of the potential in every human being. We too can blossom, we too can flower. And when we do, that flowering, that blossoming, will take over our whole being. Every cell of our body will be oozing with a bouquet of blossom. We will be like this tree: no part of us will remain untouched. And other people may be surprised. Just weeks before, we were nothing but bare branches. We might even have looked dead to some people. And then suddenly, like this tree in early spring, we are covered in blossom, gorgeous, a gift to the rest of existence.

And who would have suspected it? Not even we, ourselves, would have guessed. I wonder if this tree knew what was coming, a few weeks ago, when it still shivered in the cold. And now it is so majestic: a gift, a gift to all of us. And that is what you and I can become. We too, have that potential to blossom. We too can become a gift to existence.