Loved ones...

There once lived a man in a beautiful town called Fantasy. On one of this daily morning walks past a nursery he noticed the gardener water a beautiful sapling. He fell in love with it, and wanted to make it his own. He walked up to the gardener and expressed his liking to buy the it. The gardener explained to the man that it was no child’s play to raise a small sapling into a healthy plant. It requires time; effort, dedication, patience and most importantly love to raise one he added. He asked the man to come back to him when he was confident that he possessed all those qualities. The man went home with a heavy heart that day. He had developed deep linking for the plant and wished he could soon own it.

After that day, rain or shine he made it a regular practice to visit the nursery every morning to see the sapling. As days passed by the sapling grew little by little; thanks to the tender care of the gardener. In the days that passed, the gardener realized the fondness the man had for the plant. One day, he gifted the man with the plant, but requested the man to take good care of it. The man was delighted by the surprise gift and assured the gardener that he would care for the plant to the best of his abilities.

He placed the plant in the best spot of his garden. He would miss even a regular activity of his, but would never fail to take care of the plant. He watered it regularly, ensured the soil was perfect for the plant to be healthy, and took great care to check insects did not harm the plant. The gardener often visited the man’s house, and was soon impressed to see the way in which the plant was cared for.

Soon, the plant grew big enough and began to bear beautiful red flowers. Excitement was beyond words for the man. He was happy to see his hard work pay off. He would pluck the flowers in bunches and deck up his home. As the plant began to mature and bear more flowers, the man’s attention was more toward the flowers than the plant itself. He began to forget to manure the soil. He assumed the plant to be strong enough and failed to protect it from insects either. Some of the leaves began to dry, and the body of the plant was invaded by many insects than one. Still, the beauty of the flowers blinded the man, and he was only interested about the bright red flowers and the way in which it could add beauty to his home. His intention was not to abandon the plant. However, he assumed the plant to be fit and fine, and concluded that the plant does not need much attention as before. Still, as nature demanded, the plant produced beautiful flowers in bunches.

After some time, the man slowly began to lose interest in decorating his home with the same color flowers every day. He preferred bunches of colorful flowers instead. No more interested in spending time and energy to grow plants he decided to buy flowers of different colors from the local store. He was very pleased with the change his heart wanted, and tried all possible ways of decorating his home with beautiful bright flowers.

Seasons changed and the local store ran out of flowers. He spent many days in disappointment trying to procure flowers from various stores across the town. Unfortunately, none of them had flowers for him. One day, as he returned home disappointed after visiting a far off store for flowers, he noticed his red flower plant missing. He rushed around the yard, and finally spotted the plant in a different spot. To his surprise he saw the gardener who gifted him with the plant apply manure to the soil around it.

Guilty of having broken his promise to the gardener, he slowly walked up to him. The gardener stood up and smiled at the man, as he continued to water the plant and remove the dried leaves. As the gardener was busy with his work, the man slowly looked at the plant. It still had the same charm and beauty, and was filled with beautiful red flowers. For a moment the man froze. He recalled that he had stopped taking care of the plant from many months before. He was sure that by now the plant would have died. As he stood there with a puzzled look on his face, the gardener spoke to the man. He explained to him that, though he had gifted the man with the plant, and though the man had taken care of it for the initial many months, he visited the plant to check if was alright. When he noticed the distraction the man developed for better flowers, he was sure of the fate that awaited the plant. He had come over to the man’s garden and moved the plant to a better place on seeing the dreadful condition the plant was in. He went on to say that he made it a point to care for the plant as his own, until the man stepped down from his world of ecstasy and come back to the plant.

These words of the gardener were like a tight slap on the man’s face. He was ashamed of his irresponsible behavior toward something that he wanted the most. He sought forgiveness from the gardener for his selfish behavior and promised him that he would never make this mistake again. He also thanked the gardener for having cared for his plant at the correct time failing which he would have long lost his dear plant.

This story is nothing but a personification of our lives.
The beautiful town is our desire.

The plant is the true love of our life. Just like the man in the story, we make sincere efforts day after day until we win the trust and affection of our true love. Once it comes into our life, we care for it like it the most precious thing in our life. We let nothing harm our love, and protect it with all our heart.

The bright red flowers the plant bears are the pleasure and happiness our true love gifts us with. Just like the man, many of us begin to prioritize the wonderful times we spend with our true love, rather than love itself. We begin to look for the benefits of our relations, and soon lose focus on the wonderful meaning our true love has given in our lives.

The man’s assumptions and careless behavior are the taken for granted attitudes we have for the special people in our lives. Many a times, our personal likes, priorities and interest are so much important, that we without realization begin to exploit those who truly love us, for our happiness.

The colorful flowers are the various distractions in our personal lives. Work place and social networking tend to keep us busy for most of our day. Invariably, we begin to submerge in useless time outs with colleagues, friends, and in temporary relationships. The time which we craved to spend with our loved ones, soon gets distributed on the social networking sites, over coffees, dinners, and long hours with people for whom even they do not know what we mean to them. We are blindfolded by the instant pleasure all these activities bring upon us, and fail to realize the loneliness and pain we bring upon that beloved ones and dear family.

Seasons are the attitude of our so called dear friends in our lives, though friends are pivotal relationships in our lives, we often tend to misjudge the short lived relationships we pick along the way. Many a times, we seize our precious time for togetherness from our special people and allocate it between such passenger friends whom we pick along our journey of life. We are happy with the momentary pleasure we gain from the company of such friends. It hurts us only when those friends prioritize us next to important. It is at this point we realize that people enjoyed our company merely because they never had anyone else to pass time with. When they find better company is when we feel the pain of abandon, which we gave to our special people in plenty in the past.

The gardener is none but our creator. Just like in the story, even though God sends us to the best of people to be with, in those whom he has faith in, he still never abandons us. There are numerous things in life that change or force us to change. Some good, while some not. It is in those not so good times, that God takes care of our loved ones. He protects our love with tender care, and prevents it from all external harm. Again, like in the story, her forgives the true realization of our mistake and gives our love back in our live if we pray with a sincere heart never to desert it again.

The society in which we live is, is often filled with numerous distractions, that sometimes we change our minds and perspective of life. Without realizing, we drift away from those people to whom we are truly important. We ignore them, take them for granted, and reach out to them, only when required. We fail to distinguish between water and oasis. In our momentary bliss we often wade far away from our dear ones, and put them through emotional ordeal and trauma, which are beyond expression. Our lives are not always like the stories that we read. In the sense, we may for all we know never get a second chance in life. Do you think it’s time to reflect on our lives and change for the better?