Not Just Lemon Drops

“I think I’ve always wanted to be an artist. I certainly can’t remember ever wanting to be anything else. Not that I awoke one morning with the full blown idea swimming about in my head. It was gradual. I drew, then I found I liked to draw, and finally, after I had got to know something about myself and the people and the things around me, I found that I didn’t want to do anything else.

At first though, my ability was just something I had, like a bag of lemon drops.”

I imagine you and I are much the same, like Norman Rockwell, we have gifts and ideas inside of us that may just feel like a bag of lemon drops- something we simply have. But what if you have got more than lemon drops inside of you? What if you have seeds? Ideas and gifts inside of you that don’t merely exist, but have the potential to grow? To become something? Something that gives life and nourishment to the world around us. What if it’s not just a bag of lemon drops, something temporary, but rather something rooted? 

What would it take to plant those seeds, water them, and let them grow? How do we find out if we’ve got lemon drops or lemon seeds inside of us? Do we have what it takes to not just hold an idea or gift, but cultivate it?

If you’re overwhelmed and intimidated by the idea of creating an orchard when you don’t even know if you have one seed, that’s okay. How do we plant a seed? First, you dig.

Dig deep and be honest. What is inside of you? What is your idea? What do you love to do?

How can you do it? 

Often with ideas we are most intimidated by what we don’t have. A seed doesn’t have branches or fruit blooming from it. It may not even have roots yet. Sometimes what we need to do first is turn from taking inventory of what we don’t have, all we need, and instead focus on what we do have. A seed is a seed, which means no matter what it has life inside of it. No matter what, it has immense potential, incredible possibilities. What draws that life out are the conditions.

Only a lemon seed doesn’t need the same things a lemon tree needs. If it encountered the same sun, winds, or rains it may not survive. A seed needs space- space to be quiet, hidden away in the soil, a seed needs space to grow first before it ever blooms. And what I mean by that is, maybe you don’t need the stage first. Or the social media following or even the recognition. Maybe you just need a blank piece of paper. Or an afternoon to practice. Or maybe everything you need is what you have. An idea, a talent, and you just need to go with it.

Who knows how it will work out? Will you be famous? Will you build a career?

Those aren’t the questions a seed needs to ask, not yet.

The questions for a seed are-

What’s inside of me?

How do I cultivate it?

What’s inside of you? How do you cultivate it? Is it by filling a sketchbook with hours of drawing and imagination? Or simply practicing?

And the thing about a seed, once it has established it’s roots- anything can happen.

And no matter what happens? There will be life in it. 

So what’s inside of you? 

What are the ideas that you thought were just lemon drops?

 Maybe check again. You’ve got a handful of seeds in ya, I’m sure of it.