Good morning…
“We are like plants full of tropisms…” writes Parker Palmer on page 6 of Let Your Life Speak. My mind wonders, “What does tropism mean?” So I google the word and learn some fun facts. The noun tropism grows from the root word “to turn.” Tropisms are the turning or bending movements of a living organism toward or away from an external stimulus, such as light, heat, or gravity.
This definition sparks in me two memories. First, in sixth grade our class ran a terrarium business. I remember leaving our small plants in dixie cups on the window sill overnight and in the morning all of the plants would be leaning toward the window, into the sun’s light. The second memory is wisdom gathered in my early twenties, wisdom bestowed upon me by my first therapist. He said, “Sue, you are going to grow, there is no changing that fact. Whether you grow straight or grow bent depends on how much you resist the process.”
Now the quote in our book makes deeper sense. “We are like plants, full of tropisms that draw us toward certain experiences and repel us from others. If we can learn to read our own responses to our own experience – a text we are writing unconsciously every day we spend on earth – we will receive the guidance we need to live more authentic lives.”
Growing away from the world’s ways and toward the ways of the LORD: this is my deepest desire.
Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things and were sneering and ridiculing Him. So He said to them, “You are the ones who declare yourselves just and upright in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts [your thoughts, your desires, your secrets]; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God” (Luke 16:14-15, AMP).
…Sue…
