A gardener ventures into an orchard, thinking about how perfect an apple tree would be for his garden. Another man, a proud new owner of a fine, white brick house in town, enters the orchard as well.
“Oh how fine the orange trees and pear trees and oak trees and walnut trees look around the town,” he thinks to himself. He would love a tree of his own, just like his neighbors.
The gardener wanders among the trees, admiring their health, examining their fruit, and contemplating their caretaker, the orchard owner. The townsman runs from tree to tree, grabbing an apple here and there, becoming excited at every next tree he sees.
Soon enough, the townsman runs right into the gardener.
“My apples!!”
“Oh I’m very sorry sir. I must have been looking straight up at the trees, and missed you entirely”
“It’s not a bother sir, my apples are okay and my noggin is okay. That’s all that matters to me.”
“Funny little fruits you have there. What shall you do with them? Are you making dinner with them?”
“No sir, these are for my garden. I am going to plant them.”
“How curious. Best of luck to you, all the same. I’m sure they’ll make an excellent addition to your garden. For me however, I couldn’t do with just an apple. I’m looking for a magnificent, tall, beautiful tree, the best in the orchard, to bring back to my house. Then my lawn will be perfect.”
“You’re looking for a whole tree huh? Best of luck to you as well then.”
The gardener picks up his apples, sets out for his garden, and the townsman wanders off.
Back among his tomatoes, pineapples, cucumbers, and squash, the gardener thinks of the funny townsman who was looking for a whole apple tree to plant on his lawn, while he plants his apples.
Meanwhile, the townsman wanders and wanders, searching for the perfect tree. Almost at dusk, he happens upon a tree, most magnificent of all.
“Oh wonderful! Now how shall I take this home?”
The man grabs the tree, right around the trunk, and heaves with all his might.
The tree does not budge.
After a few attempts, the man looks around for a better way to remove the tree. He finds an axe. The townsman cuts down the tree right at the stump, and manages to struggle it back home, in the night.
The next day, he digs a hole, plants the trunk down in it, covers it up, and stands back to admire it.
“A perfect tree for a perfect lawn,” he thinks.
Each day the townsman comes out to admire his tree, in all its beauty. When he looks at his neighbor’s garden, he always thinks, “Oh what a lovely garden, but not as lovely as my tree. I’m so glad I took this tree instead of just a few tiny apples. It’s much more glorious.”
Day by day, the wind blows, the leaves fall, the limbs break, and the squirrels run away. The townsman mourns his tree as it starts to rot and crumble away. He sees his neighbor’s garden again, and he notices a colossal apple tree, higher and more glorious than his ever was.
“Where did you find this tree? I haven’t seen anything like it in all the orchards I’ve ever seen!”
“I didn’t find it”
“Then who did? Mine has rotted and I don’t know what to do! I must find another.”
“I planted the apples you saw me find. I watered it, nurtured it, and pruned it everyday. It was nothing at first, then it was tiny, then it was my height, then it was this.”
“You mean to tell me that such a large tree grew out of something so insignificant and tiny?”
“Yes”
Henceforth the townsman learned that trees that bear fruit can’t be found or taken, searched for or left alone. The gardener and the townsman became friends, and the gardener taught the townsman how to plant a seed, how to nurture it everyday, how to wait patiently for it to grow, and how to make the best apple pie he had ever had. The townsman grew his own apple tree with the gardener, and many more after that, creating a great orchard that in time became a renowned sight to see.
The best ideas aren’t gotten. They are grown.
The best successes don’t come with chance. They come with nurture.
The best fruit comes with patience, and is the tiny seed of magnificent life.
And the best apple pie comes from the house of the townsman, and his friend, the gardener.