The Story of the Rose

Once upon a time there were two rosebushes who were neighbors.

The king of the land decided that he wanted the perfect rosebush as a gift to his queen. The bush that produced the most beautiful rose would be rewarded by spending the rest of its life in the royal garden, tended lovingly by the royal gardener.

Both rosebushes wanted this honor, so they decided to blossom. One decided to increase it's chances of success by producing as many roses as it could, while the other focused on creating a single perfect rose.

"A single rose!" the other scoffed. "Who wants a bush that only produces a single rose?" The bush laughed at her neighbor, bragging to all around about her certain success for she was filled with many small blossoms. Her branches grew heavy and hung low from all of the small roses she produced.

The other bush ignored her neighbor, concentrating only on that single rose. She poured everything she was into that lone blossom, and that blossom grew and grew and grew.

The king came by to judge the rosebushes. He admired the quantity of roses the first bush produced and all in the forest was certain he would pick her...

Then he saw the single rose. His mouth fell at the beauty of the large blossom and he touched it reverently, ordering his gardeners to gently transplant the bush into the royal garden.

The other bush was upset, and asked tearfully "why? " to which the king responded:

"You have placed all of your energy into creating as many roses as you could. I only wanted one perfect rose."

Whatever you do, remember the story of the rose. Do we want to spend our time making many smaller roses, or just one perfect blossom?