I was tilling the garden the other day. As I stand behind the tiller I usually survey the garden planning the location of all of the vegetables I am going to plant. I have a dwarf peach tree in my garden and as I tilled past it I decided that area would be the location where I would plant my corn this year. As I thought through the layout, I had a vision of a peach tree full of peaches in the middle of a patch of corn. I thought to myself how out of place a peach tree is in a vegetable garden. It is a bit like people. Most people spend their life trying to “fit in”; literally, trying to be like everyone else. They wear similar clothes, shop at the same shops, even talk like others talk. They are literally like the corn in the vegetable garden. It all looks alike and in the end you cannot really distinguish one plant from the other. But, then there are those people who are very different. They come at life from whole different perspective. People refer to them as “weird”, “nutty”, etc. They are ostracized and left on the outside.
Now, think about the peach tree in the corn patch. All of the corn looks alike and tastes alike. Imagine the person picking corn when all of a sudden they come upon the peach tree. It looks different and tastes VERY different. But, how sweet is a peach? In the end, it is sweeter than even the sweetest corn.
Those people who are very different from everyone else are the peach trees in the vegetable garden of life. Give them a chance. Listen to what they have to say or watch what they do. Don’t condemn them for being different. Learn from them! We miss so many opportunities to learn, to laugh, and to live differently and better by condemning those that may have much to teach us. Try to look at things from their perspective and you might see life very differently from how you see it now. Grass may look greener or a flower smell sweeter.
Let me go one step further. Next time it rains, rather than putting on boots like everyone else, walk bare footed or work in your garden bare footed and feel the soft cool dirt on your feet. When you are burning hot, rather than running in the house and turning down the A/C, sit outside quietly under the shade tree and watch the birds. Sleep outside, drive with your car windows down. Don’t worry about what others may think. Do them because they are relaxing and fun. You may find you will begin to see things very differently and you will be much happier. You will be shocked how the world will look. AND who knows, you may wake up one day and you will be the peach tree in the vegetable garden.
