Wednesday, November 19, 2008

The Bamboo

One day I decided to quit...I quit my job, my relationship, my spirituality.... I wanted to quit my life. I went to the woods to have one last talk with God.

"God", I said. "Can you give me one good reason not to quit?"

His answer surprised me.

"Look around", He said. "Do you see the fern and the bamboo?"

"Yes", I replied.

"When I planted the fern and the bamboo seeds, I took very good care of them. I gave them light. I gave them water. The fern quickly grew from the earth. Its brilliant green covered the floor. Yet nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo.

"In the second year the fern grew more vibrant and plentiful. And again, nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo.

"In year three there was still nothing from the bamboo seed. But I would not quit. The same in year four.

"Then in the fifth year, a tiny sprout emerged from the earth.

Compared to the fern, it was seemingly small and insignificant.

But just six months later, the bamboo rose to over 100 feet tall.

It had spent the five years growing roots. Those roots made it strong and gave it what it needed to survive. I would not give any of my creations a challenge it could not handle.

"Did you know, my child, that all this time you have been struggling, you have actually been growing roots? I would not quit on the bamboo. I will never quit on you.

"Don't compare yourself to others." He said. "The bamboo had a different purpose than the fern. Yet they both make the forest beautiful.

"Your time will come", God said to me. "You will rise high."

"How high should I rise?" I asked.

"How high will the bamboo rise?" He asked in return.

"As high as it can?" I questioned.

"Yes." He said, "Give me glory by rising as high as you can."


7 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi, I just started my PhD and a blog to follow it. Really interesting reading your articles. How do you generate so much traffic?

Lonely Dissertator-No-More said...

Hi Chris. I do have traffic, but most of it are people I know. Some actually find me, just like you did.

The post that gathers *most* traffic is actually one I did called "So You Want To Be A Psychotherapist" (or something like that, I'm too lazy to check right now). Good content drives traffic in these googleable days. I have yet to put up adsense to make my 25cents a month.

Welcome by. And welcome back anytime. I'll add you to my list of other dissertators when I get a chance.

Lonely Dissertator-No-More said...

p.s. This post on which we're commenting is a straight rip-off from the internet. I just felt inspired by the content.

Heather Floyd said...

Just like I found you, Lonely! :-) To date, I have only 2 folks regularly visiting me... I had 3 but he went on hiatus to focus on doctoral work. Hi Chris!

Anonymous said...

So your're saying that this whole nightmare that was once a simple "special project" is not actually failure? I'm just growing roots? Because if it takes me 5 years to get this thing approved by the one holdout, I'm not sure I will make it... ;-)

Fajita said...

Isn't there some sort of miracle grow for bamboo? Or, maybe there is some kind of bamboo cross-breeding with Kudzu?

Just want to know prior to dissertatin in ess than a year.

Lonely Dissertator-No-More said...

Fajita: cross-breed away! all qualitative researchers do.