Daisy

My father gave me a seed and said to me, "Go and plant it and watch it grow. Be careful with it, and it will bring you great joy." 

I was excited. I took the seed and ran to my garden. My garden was pretty big. Not enormous, but I was very happy with it. Most of the things in my garden are flowers. My favorites are the gladiolas; they are the closest to me. The rest are all different kinds: pansies, tulips, daffodils, crocuses, lady's slipper, marigolds, and more. 

I took the seed and right away dug a little plot in the center, next to the biggest, most flourishing gladiola that was my joy. Gently I laid it in the soil and smoothed the rich loam back over it, patting the ground firmly to keep it in place. I was so happy about the seed my father gave me that I couldn't wait for it to grow. I said to myself, "Now, I will take extra special care of this one, and maybe it will come up faster." 

So each day I took time to water my new seed, and I whispered to it beautiful things, which of course, it could not hear yet, but I believed once it was grown, I could tell it all sorts of wonderful things. I fed it and made sure it had plenty of sunshine. I wanted this seed to become the best flower in my entire garden. 

Soon enough, a little green shot through the dark earth. I was overjoyed. I ran around it, laughing and jumping, and I ran to tell my father all about it. It was coming up so fast, and I loved it more and more each day. I could tell it was going to be something very special. 

But as time went on, I was called away from my garden. My neighbor, Miss L. Ife, was nagging me about the weeds around my yard fence, the garbage that needed to be taken out, the schoolwork that needed to be done, and my father quietly reminded me as I rushed around about how he needed to talk to me about something. I started doing my jobs poorly. I felt the need to do everything at once and do it to perfection. 

After a good deal of time, I went back to my garden and looked grievously at the sprout I had been so thrilled about and all of my other flowers that I so loved. Many of them had stopped growing, some of them were missing petals, and weeds had came in to choke the others. My little seed that had grown so diligently under my care was stunted in its grow; it had not climaxed into the amazing flower it should have been. I ran to my father, weary and distressed and dismayed and angry. 

I said to him, "Why have you let me run around and do all of these other things? Why can't you tell Miss L. Ife to leave me alone? Why didn't you make me sit down and talk to you? Why has the little seed you gave me stopped growing? What did I do? What am I suppose to do now? Why am I not good enough to do what needs to be done?"

My father looked at me and said gently, "I needed you to learn. I want to spend time with you. I want to talk with you always, at every moment. I love you, and if you trust me, the seed I gave you will continue to grow into a flower like no other that you have. You can't do it all on your own; let me help you. Then, with me, you will be good enough." 

I returned to my flower plot. The only surviving flower was a lone Bleeding Heart in the corner. I turned to my father and ran into his arms. "I need you. Help me."