As a child I was pretty inquisitive. When I got a toy with moving parts, it wasn’t unusual for me to take it apart in order to see how it was that those parts were able to move. I remember when I got my first doll with moving arms and legs - I pulled the doll’s arm out of the socket to see what allowed it to move.

So it shouldn’t surprise you that as a child I once planted a potato in the ground to see what would happen.

I went into my parents’ garden, dug a hole in the ground, placed the potato in the hole, covered it up, watered it, then stood back and watched. …

After awhile when nothing happened, I thought to myself that maybe it takes more than a few minutes and that I might need to give it more time. So every day I went to the garden and watered the spot where I had planted the potato.

After a couple weeks of this routine with no activity at the spot where I had planted the potato, I began to despair that nothing was ever going to happen. Then, one day, I noticed a little sprout where I had planted the potato. Though I pondered and wondered whether this little sprout was connected to my potato, I decided to not take any chances!

All summer long I tended to the little sprout, watering it and nurturing it. By the end of the summer, that little sprout had grown into a big bushy healthy plant. I was so proud!

Then my curiosity took hold again — I wanted to see what had happened to my original potato. So I grabbed a trowel and dug up the plant. To my amazement, that one little potato had grown tubers from which about 18 more potatoes had grown!

It was only recently that I discovered that my “potato story” was a parable about how abundance works.

First, you have to prepare the soil by digging the hole. So too your mind. You must prepare your mind just as you would prepare the soil. Compare the digging of the hole with opening your mind to the possibilities.

Next you must plant the seed. If you don’t plant a seed, nothing will grow. Well, maybe a weed may take hold, but is that really what you want to grow? If you don’t plant the seed of what you desire in your mind, how can you expect the seed to grow?  Picture your mind overgrown with weeds — not very pretty, is it?! A conscious choice needs to be made as to what you want to grow in the garden of your mind.

Once you cover the seed, you must be patient when you don’t see immediate results. My potato first had to grow its root structure below ground. This was its foundation from which it derived its nutrients. Without the roots, the plant would not have a system to absorb the nutrients and deliver it to its other parts. That all this was happening below the surface and was not visible to me, didn’t mean that “nothing was happening.” So too when you plant a seed in the garden of your mind. You may not see what is happening — that doesn’t mean that nothing is happening. This is where your faith comes in. You must have faith that that which you desire is developing and growing.

Then you must nurture what grows. If you do not tend to it, it may die from lack of water or be eaten by bugs. What a great metaphor that is — if you do not nurture the right thoughts in your mind, those thoughts will die from a lack of nurturing or be eaten by bugs!

If you nurture your seedling, you can expect that will grow to maturity. Recognize though that the growth does not happen immediately, nor overnight, nor even in a few weeks. For a seed to grow to maturity may take a season or it may take years, depending on whether you planted a potato or an acorn.

In summary, here are the steps to growing abundance:

  • Plant the seed of abundance as a thought in your mind; if it is not planted, it cannot grow.
  • Recognize that your seed must first grow its roots before it can grow upward.
  • Have faith that your seed is growing even if you don’t see anything visibly.
  • Continue to nurture the thoughts of abundance in the garden of your mind.
  • Tear out the limiting thoughts just as you would pull out the weeds from your garden.
  • Have patience while your seed grows and multiplies.

While I know there are scientific explanations as to how life multiplies, to me the growth of life from a seed and the manner in which it multiplies itself is a fascinating mystery! It shows us how abundance works.

Abundant blessings to all of you on your life journey!