Nature as Life Coach - Life Lessons From A Lemon Tree

We planted a lemon tree in our garden and we admired it expectantly for four years as it grew up to five feet in height. Alas, there were no lemons to be seen. The gardener told us to embrace patience as he was confident that the tree would soon bear fruit. We kept our patience and to our surprise we soon saw these little green balls sprouting on the branches of the tree. Then there was no looking back. The tree was soon laden with tiny green lemons. We thought that these would soon turn yellow but we were in for another surprise. It takes many months for the lemons to grow to their full size and then comes further wait time of six to eight months for them to turn yellow. We thus learnt another lesson in patience. Though the lemons take their own sweet time to turn into the sunshine yellow that we love so much but the tree is always laden with fruit. Some years back we had to get a part of the garden cemented as the grass was not growing well due to lack of sunshine. We asked the gardener if it was possible to dig up the lemon tree and plant it in the other corner of the garden. Since he said it was possible we kept our fingers crossed when we made him uproot the tree and replant it. The tree had no qualms about being uprooted and replanted. It grew bigger and the lemons too grew in size every year. We realised that the roots of the tree, from its new position, could go into the underground water tank which was situated close to it. The gardener was again asked to uproot the tree and plant it in another spot. This was done and the tree accepted this change gracefully. It continued to grow and bear fruit without any signs of resistance or anger at being uprooted. This tree has enlightened me with some life lessons which I would like to share with you -

1) Good things in life take time so be patient.

2) Your talent, capabilities and strengths are prime and they cannot be marred by any upheaval in life.

3) You may be uprooted but if you are determined you can grow anywhere.

4) No change can deter your ambitions.

5) When you are focused on your goals, the place/situations/conditions/time have no effect on you.

6) And you can learn new things from anyone or anything around you if you are willing to learn.