The Other Side of the Wall

Believe it or not, everything you do has an impact.  Everything is connected.  Life is one indivisible whole.  Despite different areas of life, how you do things in one area is often an indicator of the ways you will do things in others.  What’s tough to see is the impact, of how and what we do, affects the people in our lives.  We may not immediately, or always see the impact, but it’s there.  Just like The Other Side of the Wall…

The Other Side of the Wall

There was a young woman who took great pride in the growth and care of the flowers in her flower garden. She had been raised by her grandmother who taught her to love and care for flowers as she herself had done. So, like her grandmother, her flower garden was second to none.

One day while looking through a flower catalogue she often ordered from, a picture of a plant immediately caught her eye. She had never seen blooms on a flower like that before. “I have to have it,” she said to herself, and she immediately ordered it.

When it arrived, she already had a place prepared to plant it. She planted it at the base of a stone wall at the back of her yard. It grew vigorously, with beautiful green leaves all over it, but there were no blooms. Day after day she continued to cultivate it, water it, feed it, and she even talked to it attempting to coax it to bloom. But, it was to no avail.

One morning weeks later, as she stood before the vine, she contemplated how disappointed she was that her plant had not bloomed. She was giving considerable thought to cutting it down and planting something else in its place.

It was at this point that her invalid neighbor, whose lot joined hers, called over to her. “Thank you so much! You can’t imagine how much I have enjoyed the blooms of that vine you planted.” The young woman walked through the gate into her neighbor’s yard, and sure enough, she saw that on the other side of the wall the vine was filled with blooms.

There were indeed the most beautiful blooms she had ever seen. The vine had crept through the crevices and it had not flowered on her side of the fence, it had flowered luxuriantly on the other side.

Just because you cannot see the good result of your labour does not mean that it bore no fruit.

Author: Randy Reynolds

The Takeaway

All of our labour bears some type of fruit.  If we do good things, we will most likely bear good fruit.  But just like a Ying has a Yang, if you do bad things, you’ll most likely bear bad fruit.  We must realize that everything we do in our lives has the potential to greatly impact the ones we love.  If we spend too much time working, sure we’ll make more money, but what’s that doing for our relationships?  If we care more about ourselves and selfishly, constantly, fulfill our own needs over others, it won’t take long for that to bear some pretty nasty fruit.

We can’t always and immediately see the fruit of our labour.  It can take time for the impact of what we do to have a positive or negative result.  So how will you know?  How do you know you’re doing the right things before the negative or positive impact is felt?  Well, it’s not rocket science, but it does take honestly looking at yourself, and taking an inventory of how you fill your days.  Sit down and look at where you’re investing your time?  If you continue doing what you’re doing, where will it lead you in six months, one year, or five years?  If you could fast forward five years and see the results of your consistent, daily activities, would it bear the fruit you want?

I implore you to look at the things you’re doing in your life, understand how they impact you and your loved ones.  Life is one indivisible whole.  You can trust the 5and2Guy on this one, or roll the dice and hope things work out.  I wish you and your loved ones the best.

Share with your friends!!!