The Rose Bush

There once was a young boy who lived in a small cabin. The cabin sat in the middle of a vast green field surrounded by mountains and trees. In this place, there was enough rain to keep the grass healthy and enough sun to help the trees grow. And yet, there were no flowers. This perplexed the boy. Eventually, it started to bother him.

He began exploring the field, searching for even the smallest flower. Everything was vibrant, and everything was fresh, but there wasn’t one single flower. Feeling hopeless, the boy finally stopped his search for flowers, but he couldn’t let go of his thoughts about them. He could no longer run happily on the grass or fly his kite. At night, he found no joy in counting the stars in the sky. All he could think was, “Why are there no flowers?”

Then one night, before he went to sleep, he silently wished to have a flower. After the boy drifted off, a fairy flew through his window, landed on his pillow, and whispered in his ear. “Tomorrow morning, go to your porch, take a deep breath, and close your eyes. Think of the flower you wish to see. Believe in what you’re seeing. Then slowly open your eyes.”

The next morning, the boy woke feeling happy for the first time in a long time. He thought only about what the fairy had said—all other thoughts had vanished. He jumped out of bed, ran out to the porch, and gazed out at the green field. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Then he imagined a light-pink, almost-white rose rising from the ground. It was beautiful.

He ran toward his vision, a huge smile on his face. In his excitement, he forgot to open his eyes and fell down. Quickly recovering, he opened his eyes and looked up. And right in front of him was a rose bush with a single flower on it! The boy laughed with delight. His dream had come true, and it was even better than he’d imagined. He spent the day dancing and singing around his rose bush. He couldn’t remember ever being happier.

The next morning, while eating breakfast on the porch and enjoying his rose bush, he wondered if perhaps he could create more flowers for it. “The fairy never said that I could have only one vision,” he thought. So he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, picturing more roses on the bush. A grin cracked his face when he opened his eyes and saw the bush bursting with roses. What a gift the fairy had given him!

As the days passed, the boy continued dreaming, first of more roses and then of more bushes. Soon, there were rose flowers and bushes everywhere. The sky was blue, the sun gold, the field colorful. His life was filled with beauty. His wildest vision was right in front of him.

But soon, worry started to penetrate his joy. Instead of enjoying his flowers, he began thinking, “What if I lose them? What if a storm comes? These bushes aren’t strong enough to survive.”

The fear of losing his bushes quickly consumed him. He started building wooden fences tall enough to protect them from the wind. As he was building the fences, the sky turned gray. Dark clouds blew in on a strong wind from the north. “These fences might protect my bushes from the wind, but what if it rains? The rain might damage their fresh blossoms.” So he built roofs over the fences and thought, “Now my bushes are safe.”

The next day, it rained. “What if this rain continues and it gets too cold for my bushes?” he thought. Fraught with worry, he wrapped each bush with blankets, sheets—anything warm he could get his hands on. The rain never stopped, and the temperature dropped.

The following morning, he stood on his porch and all he could see was land filled with fences enclosing ugly piles of cloth. He couldn’t enjoy the flowers he’d wished for. The view from his porch was no longer beautiful—nothing like his original vision. So he removed the blankets and sheets from the bushes and carried them out of their enclosures into his small cabin. Once the field was empty, he couldn’t move around in the cabin.

In the darkness of the boy’s home, the bushes started dying. “This isn’t what I wished for,” he thought. He gazed out from his porch with sadness. He missed the life he’d had before and thought it would be better if he’d never wished for the bushes at all.

“I made my dreams come true. And I took every step I could think of to keep those dreams alive. But I’m not as happy as I was before. What did I do wrong?”

That night, he wished only to be happy again. As soon as the boy fell asleep, the fairy once again flew through his window, landed on his pillow, and whispered in his ear. “Your life is a reflection of your thoughts. Let go of your worries and trust the simple miracle of existence in every moment. It will guide you into the happiness that is eternal.”

When the boy woke up, there were no more dying bushes in his cabin—it was bright with sunshine. He trusted life within the depths of his heart, and he felt happy. His head was free of any fears or worries.

And when he walked outside, he was greeted by a field full of colorful flowers of all kinds.