A Spring Story
Adapted from a story published in the January 1996 issue of REACH.

Laura Lawson Tucker
All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church
West Brattleboro, VT

One spring morning, two little seeds are curled up sleeping. They start to wake up, moving slowly.

The first seed, whose name was Pansy, moved slightly and looked around. She notices the second seed who was named Lizzy. “Hey”, said Pansy, “I feel as though I’m ready to burst open. I can tell I’m changing.”

“Yeah, me too!” said Lizzy.

They start to move more, swelling and growing.

Lizzy said, “You know, I remember a story my Uncle Fred told me. It was something about feeling darkness, and then bursting open and reaching toward the light.”

“That reminds me of a story my Mom told me,” said Lizzy. “She said something about how I would go through some very big changes and become like her.”

Pansy was still moving slowly. “Now I remember,” she said. “We’re supposed to be reaching for the light and the warmth. That’s what’s happening now. Somebody told me that.”

Lizzie began moving, stretching upwards. “Hey,” she said, “there is some light up there! Now I remember what my Dad told me. He said to remember that it wouldn’t always be dark, and to trust that I would find the light.”

The both popped out into the light.

Lizzie cried out, “Oh, look! It’s so bright! Look at all the colors everywhere.”

“It’s so beautiful,” said Pansy. “My Dad was right. It’s not always dark.”

The both looked around in awe. And they both kept right on changing and growing.

Lizzie stared at Pansy and said, “Hey, you look different! Take a look at yourself. You’re not little anymore … and you’ve got all kinds of shapes growing all over you.”

Pansy looked at herself in amazement, and then looked at Lizzie. “Well, you look different, too. You don’t suppose that my aunt could have been right? She said that one day I would be tall, with lots of colors.”

Lizzie said, “Well, you’re certainly green. But wasn’t there another part of the story we were told? What was that? It was something about bursting into a….”

“That’s it!” said Pansy. “A rainbow of colors! As soon as we found the warmth and the light we would be part of a rainbow of spring colors.”

“Hey, I think that’s what’s happening right now,” said Lizzie.

They both gazed with pride at their colors.

Pansy thought for a while and then said, “You know I remember the last thing my Mom told me…."

“What’s that?” asked Lizzie.

And Pansy very quietly replied, “To remember to pass down our story to our children, so that they never forget how we began, how to change from seeds to flowers … just like our ancestors, year after year. They must always believe that we can find the warmth and the light.”

Lizzie looked around her and said, “Hey! There’s Cousin Flora. And my sister, Rosa.”

“It’s so nice to all be back together again,” said Pansy.