A Tale of Growth and Grit

 Zinnias, Birds, and Jim Rohn's Wisdom: A Tale of Growth and Grit

I have been growing Zinnias for years. In late summer, (usually September or so), I pluck the deadheads, drying them in the basement during the winter season. In the spring, I pull the petals off the dried heads, separate the petals from the seeds and plant those seeds. Year after year, I have beautiful beds of Zinnias. 

But a few years ago, a strange thing occurred. I started noticing that the petals would be stripped bare before I could get to them. One day, after running errands in my van, I pulled in the driveway beside our house and more than a dozen Gold Finches dismounted from my Zinnia patch, taking flight into the air. "Guilty!!" – they seemed to chirp as they flew away. Later, standing by my window, spying on the flowers, I observed the birds pulling the petals off, one by one! I was horrified as I watched them yank the petals with their beaks. 

"Aha," I said to myself. "It's the Gold Finches who are stripping the flowers – before I can harvest them." (You must wait until they've dried completely before cutting them from the plant.)

We've had Zinnias and Finches for years and never had this problem. 

Each summer, we now have a competition: Frances Versus Gold Finches. If I can harvest the dried blooms before the Finches get them, score! If they get them... well, they rob me of next year's crop. 

Today, as I harvested more dried blooms (trying to beat the Finches), I thought about Jim Rohn and his teaching about sowing, reaping, and success, using the story of the birds and the seeds:

When the birds get your seeds, you have two options. 

1) Chase the birds. 

But when you chase the birds you leave the field which is going to distract from your future. 

2) You can just say, "Isn’t that interesting."

If you sow more, you can sow more than the birds can keep up with. 

The sower kept on sowing which was a secret to his success.

– Jim Rohn

How tempting it could be to leave the yard and go chase the birds. Instead, I just plant an abundance of seeds, ensuring that some will survive and be successful.