It’s Not What You Do

It’s not what you do. It’s that you do it.

“Do you want to see what this looks like after fifty years?”

Del and I were at the nursery looking at a tiny orchid hanging on a piece of bark. It was barely there—just a wisp of green.

“Yes,” we said without hesitation. We followed the man with the kind face into a back room to view a fifty-year-old orchid. It was a ball as big as a truck tire.

Our guide said he had been taking care of the orchid for fifty years and all the little orchids on sale were off-shoots of that one plant. As he told us that the mother orchid blooms hundreds of blooms in the fall, it was obvious how happy he was to have taken care of this flower for all these years.

Afterward, I wondered what most of us would have to share if the question, “do you want to see what this looks like after fifty years,” wasn’t about a flower but an idea?

Would we do things differently?

Perhaps we won’t be around to see how it turns out, but someone will.

Will people stand in awe or disgust? Will our idea still be expanding and providing good, or will it be something that causes harm?

We have a friend who builds owl boxes. Then he climbs a tree and hangs it. Sometimes he takes payments. Usually, he doesn’t. Fifty years from now, many generations of owls later, those boxes will probably still be there.

One of my dance teachers would tell us that our bodies are our instruments for expressing ourselves. Now I know it’s more than that. We are the instruments of the Divine, and each of us expresses that Infinite differently.

Which means it’s not what we do. It’s that we do it as well as we can.

It’s not how many people we share it with. It’s that we share it.

It’s not how important the world may think it is because the reward for living as our unique spiritual blessing doesn’t come from the world.

What we do may not make us rich, although it might. It’s that we feel wealthy doing it.

It’s not what everyone else is doing. It’s what we are doing.

What if we nurtured our ideas like our friend nurtures the orchid? Honoring and sharing it as it grows and expands.

Imagine the blooms we would produce.

Of course, being unique expressions of the Divine, our personal blooms will not look the same. There will be tiny blooms, one-time enormous blooms, and all sizes in between. No matter how we bloom and share, it will be valuable because its expression is an essential part of the tapestry of Life.

What will your idea look like in fifty years? Are you caring for it? Are you doing your best? Are you sharing?

As the man at the nursery said, “I won’t see what the orchid looks like in another fifty years, but I know it will be beautiful.”

And many, many people will have benefited.

Seems like an intent worth having.