A Leaf

 A friend of mine posted this on Facebook the other day. It's beautifully written, and very powerful, so I hope it blesses you:

A story about a leaf.

 Today I sat in the sunshine outside my workplace.

 To be honest it's been a really hard few weeks, lots of ups but also some awfully stressful downs. So anyway, I was sat in the sunshine and enjoying the birds singing and feeding my soul with some peace. All on my own as I usually am.

 As I sat on an old partly rotting railway sleeper round the edge of the raised bed outside my workshop a leaf wandered by. I heard it first. A kind of rattling noise to the side of me. I heard it tap tap tapping it's way over to me and I wondered what the noise was. Then I saw this dried up, dead, light brown little leaf cartwheeling in the breeze towards me. I said out loud "hello little leaf."

And it stopped right in front of me as the breeze died down. And I pondered. In its lifetime this little leaf had been green and fresh and part of a tree or bush somewhere nearby. While it was alive it would have done its thing every day for a whole season drawing in carbon dioxide and breathing out oxygen. Enjoying the sun and the rain alike and just keeping on doing its thing day by day.

I was really struck by how this now dead leaf had once been alive and should have been completely unnoticed in my world. Yet he came cartwheeling by as I sat in the sun. In its life this little leaf had made oxygen for me and others. Unbidden. Unthanked.

 I said "thank you little leaf". And off he went cartwheeling away in the breeze once more.

 All any of us can do is just keep doing our thing each day. We are surrounded by so many clamouring to be great. People being inspirational, influencing, brave, heroic, rising up, succeeding, championing, trailblazing, overcoming, being victorious and shining brightly... It's all so exhausting and frankly... Soul crushing when you feel you're going through crap and can barely brush your hair or you're just plodding on through life and don't feel very worthwhile or successful.

 More of us need more often to just be like my little leaf friend today. Just be. Just do the little thing that you do and don't worry about anyone else. Breathe in. Breathe out. Hang on in the rainy times. Bask in the sunny times. And then when you've breathed your last, maybe you'll get to cartwheel in heaven, not because you've been so brilliantly successful but because you are loved.

 The little leaf wasn't a superstar flower or a springtime blossom. Just a little leaf, probably hidden and unseen during its life. But I met him today and he impacted me, even after he was done and all dried up. You never really know what impact you have on others when you just quietly be you.