Cracks

The Meaning of Struggle

Growing is a challenge. Becoming is not easy. Emerging takes energy. As humans, we know this. And we see it in the animal world, as tiny chicks peck their way out of egg shells, as lizards burst through tough, old skin, and as this butterfly we recorded works its way out of its chrysalis.

I don’t often think of this struggle as it applies to the plant world. But this spring Scott pointed to a row of beans he had planted and showed me something remarkable. All along the row of bean seeds there were small cracks in the earth. Small cracks where soon tiny shoots would spring up; shoots so thin and small that if I were careless in the garden I could easily destroy one by stepping on it.

Those tiny, almost hair-like tendrils of green managed to rise up through the earth and crack it. Ten days later, the young green beans planted here were a few inches tall and looking very hardy.

Is it the struggle that creates strength? Is it groping through darkness that leads to light? Is it pushing against barriers that makes flight possible? Are the difficulties we all face, whether plant or animal, necessary to our development as we become the beings we are meant to be? These are the questions I ask as I watch the wonders of the world around me, as I watch the children in my life grow, and as I consider my own continuing development as a human being. We all live with struggle. Is this the reason for it?