Perseverance

Every day I take our ADHD poster child of a dog Elvis, the Wonder beagle, out for his morning walk where he blesses each and every living (and many dead) things with his own personal brand of baptismal water. One of the places that has received his daily blessings over the years has been this dead and decaying log. Cut down well over a decade ago judging by its look I never paid it much attention until recently. Somehow, somewhere deep inside the heart of stump a sapling took root and decided to grow. Over the past 6 months I have watched in amazement as it grew taller and taller each day, gathering strength from the old stump and showing the stump that it still had value. Each time I see it I cheer on its progress and smile, thinking about what my mom used to tell me growing it “It’s not how many times you fall down, it’s how many times you get back up.” And so, too, it goes here. Left to decay and rot, this stump refuses to be a victim and instead chose to sustain and support new growth giving the ultimate victory salute to those who chose cut it down in its prime with three simple words- “I will survive”.