The Best of Us

I awakened early this morning, as it is a habit of mine to rise between 3 A.M. and 4 A.M. to meditate, and to plan my day. Its an old habit, and no matter what, I cannot bring myself to sleep in any later.

There is a magic to early morning. The silence is like a soft blanket, and as I sit at my patio table on my deck, and look up at the stars, the tranquility soothes me and makes me grateful to be a part of the world for another day.

This morning was no different than any other, and as I began to ponder the subject of this newsletter, the silence was broken by a ‘whap!’ sound hitting the wooden deck.

It startled me at first, as I couldn’t figure out what would be falling that would hit the deck hard enough to make a sound that loud. Since I only had a small lamp on the table, I knelt down and felt around to see if I could feel anything, and my hand came upon a small spherical object, and I picked it up and brought it to the light.

It was an acorn. An ordinary, little acorn.

The mystery about it is that there is not a single oak tree within 2 blocks of my house!

So where did this little acorn come from? And what meaning did it have for me, falling at my feet this early November morning?

Maybe it meant nothing. Maybe someone threw it at 3 0’clock in the morning and it landed on my deck. Perhaps a bird flying overhead with the acorn in its mouth dropped it. Or…I was being sent a message.

I held the acorn in my hand, looking at it, feeling it, turning it over and over and wondered…what message could there possibly be in a little acorn?

And then, I got the message.

Here is what I believe the message is. I am putting together the stories for The Best of Us, 50 Inspiring People Who are Making The World a Better Place, and in writing about these inspirational people, my hope is that by getting their stories out it will inspire others to find the best in themselves, and know that in all of us the best is there, within us.

And so it is with the acorn. As I held it, I saw what it held inside. Inside that tiny acorn was a giant oak tree.

Now you couldn’t cut that acorn open and find that oak tree, but you know its there. The message of that acorn was, and is, we all have greatness inside us, sometimes we don’t see it, because all we see is the acorn, but it is there, waiting to grow.

I’m going to plant that acorn today. And one day, it will be an oak tree. I am also going to plant the seed of hope in what I write today, and tomorrow, and for the rest of my life. And it will grow also. Hope is every bit as powerful as that little acorn, and it abounds in all of us, waiting to grow to the reality from which it sprung. The Best of Us..in all of us.