Pruning

                                                                        

When I lived in Boca Raton, I would become very apprehensive as March arrived. I really loved my Mango tree, and March was when the brand new little fruit were subjected to the strong Spring winds. I was not willing to lose any of the precious fruit from that tree. The fruit were very vulnerable to those winds because of what I thought was the tree's faulty design - maybe a mistake by God?

Before the fruit even begins to form, there is a lengthening of each placenta. These are long, stems that will hold the hanging fruit (panicles). They can reach a length of nine inches or more, a seemingly too generous dimension. But, as always, what appears to be a "God mistake" is a well designed system able to act with other natural systems in the Universe.

Here's the way it works, and what I learned from watching this incredible life cycle develop. In February, the blossoms appear on the ends  of these long extensions. Bees and birds provide the required pollination. As the fruit develop, they appear as a small pea on the tip of each whip-like placenta. During the remainder of February and into March, the size and weight of these small fruits increases. When they have grown to about one or two inches in diameter, they are have become heavy enough to pull at the placenta so that it hangs straight down. 
The tree, at this point looks like a Christmas tree adorned with pretty little green balls, all hanging from a long string. That's when I would begin to look forward to the very large harvest I would be enjoying in July. It was so exciting to anticipate the hundreds of delicious mangoes that I was going to enjoy giving away and eating. Before that pleasure, I first had to learn a major lesson - about mango trees, about the Universal plan and about life itself. 

When the March winds arrived, the small fruits were subjected to an awful whipping action caused by the design of that lengthy placenta. It seemed so unfortunate to me that just as those fruits were so vulnerable, that they should be confronted with such a challenge. I felt helpless as the uncaring, unfeeling wind began to strip the small, helpless fruit from the ends of those placentas. So many would be lost and my dream of an enormous harvest would become dimmer. I noticed that the long placentas themselves were able to remain intact. They were strong enough to survive the strongest gusts. The still undeveloped fruit, however, were pulled away from their flailing tips. How could a tree be so poorly designed?  To have to face those harsh March winds hanging from a long whip-like tail seemed to doom all of the fruit to certain abortion.

Having to face those harsh March winds hanging from a long whip-like tail seemed to doom all of the fruit to certain abortion. Eventually, I was able to understand that I'd been witnessing another one of Nature's incredible miracles. The tree's design was perfect for facing those March winds. 

The tree "knew" about those winds. It could anticipate it's own future. It knew that at full growth, each of its fruits would weigh a pound or more.  It knew to make the placentas long enough to whip off only those fruits it "knew" would not survive development. The placentas were made strong enough to survive any gust so that they would remain able to hold and nourish the fully developed, heavy fruit. 

This whole process is part of  the tree's purpose.  It was part of a controlled environment that would allow the healthy fruit to survive. At the same time, it was conserving its strength by eliminating those fruits that were weak. It had to maintain its own strength for its own survival - the very purpose of life itself.

     What a design! The tree, the fruit, the birds, the bees, the wind knew about their role and what they had to do. They were all in on the same process. They new all about it, even before there were any blossoms. 

A similar process of pruning like this, takes place in all living things.  It is not just about evolution or the, "strong surviving". Even Darwin would have preferred, "The elimination of those unable to survive." But there is more to it than that. 

There is something more to the plan, something more spiritual, a truly "Grand Design". It's the fulfilling of a promise that there will always be trees, so that they can interact with the birds, the bees, the wind and me.  

Pruning is a natural and important part of our human growth and development. I believe that in order to fulfill our promise to life, we must learn to improve ourselves, to develop as a person and to survive. I believe this to be our entire purpose for being alive. 

Where does our pruning occur? What are our March winds? It is in our minds. Throughout our lives, we accumulate an abundance of irrational thoughts and ideas. Many of these do not serve us well. The way we think and what we come to believe creates most of our reality. Our "March winds" are the trials and the crises we will face while we are alive. Some of those ideas and beliefs will not survive the test of a particular crisis. As they are stripped away, we are able to choose healthier thoughts. These will allow us to grow stronger and help us to survive. 

It is the life crises we face that become the catalysts for our growth and development. They are the life storms that, at the time, seem so harsh, so uncaring, yet are also part of a larger plan.

Like the March winds testing the Mango tree, we are tested through many "Springs", as well. Eventually, we understand the incredible miracle of life that we are living - we submit ourselves to the plan - and we grow.