Nurturing seeds of good.
"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant."
-Robert Louis Stevenson
This one is a little closer to my heart than my previous posts. .Anyone who has ever met me will know I'm obsessed with anything Scottish.
18th and 19th century Scotland produced many of that worlds greatest scientists, philosophers, poets and authors. RLS has long been one of my favourites since first reading treasure island as a 9-year-old boy.
Growing up plagued by illness combined with the privilege of being the son of a famous lighthouse designer meant that Robert Louis Stevenson had an unusual life for his time.
He travelled more than most in his time, mostly in defiance of the bronchial troubles that always threatened to trap him at home.
Early in his travels, he discovered his love of writing. He completed many travel journals, poems and essays. Despite receiving great encouragement from the London literary scene he had only mild success.
refusing to be discouraged, he saw these times as seeds being planted for his future.
Continuing his travels he mingled with the rich, the educated, the Bohemian artists, and spent time in the dingiest darkest pubs he could find. During that time he built up an extensive bank of seeds to be planted in his fertile mind.
In 1881 he again fell ill and spent the next three years bedridden.
He very likely felt like his life was a waste. Gone were the travels, gone we're the adventurous nights, and gone we're the days filled with exciting characters.
Three years with nothing but sickness, nothing to harvest. But in those three years, he wrote the most successful and remembered of all his works.
Treasure Island, Kidnapped, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, The Black Arrow, A Child's Garden of Verses, and Underwoods.
the seeds had sprouted and by 1886 most had been harvested. He recovered from his bout of illness and resumed his travels looking for a way to use his success to help others.
He spent the end of his life in the south pacific continuing his writing and hoping to plant seeds in others. wanting to encourage them to protect the island culture he now loved and feared was endangered.
As you go about your day today what seed will you allow to take hold in your life? In return what seeds will you scatter out into the world around you?
Just remember don't get discouraged when not all of your seeds sprout right away. what you plant today might not show for days or years to come but if you continue to care for it. It will eventually grow.
- JB
Comments