Seeds of Sabr
Survival of the fittest
Last March I purchased a tree for the first birthday of my then kitten. I thought it would be nice for her to have a tree that would grow with her, each year a little bit more. Since my cat is allergic to quite a lot of house plants, I had to do my research and be selective in my purchase. Hence I bought her a lemon tree. I thought we could both reap the fruit of the growth process.
Now maybe I should tell you that I have quite the curious, adventurous cat, who doesn’t shy away from a little bit of mischief. On the sidetone, I must admit she is very loving, intelligent, bossy, human-shy and follows me around like a puppy. So I guess when people say animals take after their human caregivers, they’re not all too wrong. Though I chose my cat specifically for her adventurous breed and travel purposes, I did notice some similarities in our fiery energy when I first met her.
Now back to the lemon tree, which was already carrying 6 lemons. My cat made it instantly clear that the tree was hers and hers alone. If I remember correctly it took her only two days to remove 5 lemons from the tree, the size of a tennis ball. Not only did she remove those lemons, she also removed the flowers, cause the lady loves flowers, the little lemons with the size of an inch and every new fresh leaf that would sprout.
It took me a month, almost two months to make her aware that we actually want the lemons to grow and that we need the new leaves. With quite some patience and training, my cat still showers the lemon tree with a lot of love and morning greetings, but we have successfully grown one full lemon together and the others are growing day by day.
Sprouting like a lemon tree
Fast forward to a couple of days ago. I noticed that a new tiny leaf had emerged on the top of the lemon tree. Believe it or not, I was so happy, because I’ve been consistently giving this tree its necessary water, making sure my cat doesn’t take away any more of its fruits, and subhanallah the weather was definitely in our favour. The tree took in quite a lot of sun and vitamins.
But what shook me most is that when I woke up yesterday I saw a full grown branch instead of a tiny new leaf. In less than seven days, the tree had undergone a complete transformation, one that I would never had seen coming in this timeframe. It’s funny truly, because the original leaves are dark green and smaller in sizing, yet the new leaves on the new branch on top are large and much lighter green. So it seems like there is one plant on top of another tree. The first word I said, when I saw this yesterday was: subhanallah.
When I look at the tree now, it reminds me of two things. The first: seeds of sabr. It goes without saying that patience is rewarded, whether it is in our personal life, the lives whom we take care of, and our surroundings. But more so, not only is patience rewarded, it is rewarded in a way that one might not have seen coming. And just like this plant its fundaments were there. It had its basis, its history to build on. No one erased that for it, yet something new was build on top with the seeds from the old.
I guess, what I mean to say is that we don’t have to reinvent ourselves. We don’t need to wipe a slate clean or start completely over. I think our strength lies in what we have experienced and in what we have build. Our power lies in how we cope and how we embrace change and story adaptions.
The second thing it reminds me of is that ﷲ ﷻ might answer our dua’s, reward our sabr in a way we never held possible.
ٱلسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ ٱللَّٰهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ