The first thing I learned is that what a seed looks like depends on what it does to survive.*
Austin Kleon

Our self-understanding has a thoroughly narrative character. The self we know is a self on the way, a self in the midst of its passage.**
James Carse

Perhaps we are seeds,
Our shells protecting us, their nature surprising us:
Life is hard,
We’re not as special as we think,
Our life is not about us,
We are not in control,
We are going to die^ –
Embrace these and we are strong.

Within lies the imagination, the possibility:
Life is hard, but we have each other to overcome,
We are not so special, but there is something each can do that no one else can,
Our life is not about us, but what we do is a gift of service expressing joy,
We’re not in control of much, but we can fully determine how we live in this moment,
We are going to die, but before this, we have so many ways to live.

*Austin Kleon’s blog: What does a seed look like?;
**James Carse’s Breakfast At the Victory;
^Here are Richard Rohr’s five elemental truths again.