Tag Archives: Faith

The Tree Most Pruned Bears the Best Fruit

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When I was growing up in upstate New York in the late 50’s and 60’s, we did a lot of migrant work on farms.  During the summer and fall we’d pick various fruits and vegetables and in the winter we’d trim trees.  We sat a ladder on the tree, climbed up with a saw, and cut off all the limbs that were growing in the wrong direction.  It was always freezing cold and the days were long.  It also wasn’t the most pleasant way to spend your weekends, yet that’s what we all did.  The entire family worked and we did whatever work we could find and we worked together.  Most saw it as menial labor and often we were kidded and looked down on, but as my dad always said, “It’s an honest living.”

Today as I was thinking about why we are forced to face so many challenges in life,  I reflected back on my childhood experience of trimming trees.  I thought about the life of a tree.  Through this personification I got a totally new perspective about why I should view life’s natural changes not as challenges, but instead as new growth opportunities.  For surely if the fruit tree never sacrificed her harvest and was unwilling to be stripped of her leaves and pruned, she would never see a new harvest that was more abundant than the one before.

A Harvest or Letting Go Is Necessary

In the summer the branches of the trees were abundantly filled with fruits.  The tree was as a mother giving birth. We’d come and take the harvest that she’d created.  Although the trees looked picture perfect with their fruit,  if we didn’t pick the fruit in time, they’d rot on the trees.  Others would drop off by themselves giving back to the earth that gave it life without asking.  In the life of a fruit tree a harvest and a letting go is necessary.  In the life of a human letting go is also necessary.

It appears that planting seeds of faith, fertilizing and protecting them, harvesting our fruits (dreams, goals, vision, ideas, service, calling, talents, and relationships), and then being willing to let go when it’s time is the natural order of life.  I reflected on how many of my new dreams would have gone unrealized if I had not had been willing to let go of the past or detach myself from the way things were. Ecclesiastes 3 sums it up.  (Continue to part 2)

3:1 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
2 a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
3 a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7 a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.

I’m Barbara Talley, The Poet who speaks and inspires.   To find more about me, check out my promo sheet or visit  my website.

3 Steps to Move from Mediocrity to Meaning (Part 1)

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Is your life an exciting adventure?

Are you ecstatic about your unique gifts and the exciting and unique role you are destined to play out in this unfolding adventure we are collectively creating called life?  Be careful, you won’t find your unique path by focusing primarily on other people’s journeys.  Your journey will require energy so don’t waste yours backbiting, emulating, or being envious of others.  Yes, we can be motivated, inspired, and even learn from others, but ultimately we must do our own search and learn our own truths.  The map for your success is within you and the map for my success is within me. We will find answers for our journey if we are open, expectant, and actively searching.  But we must search in the right place.  If I search forever, but in the wrong place I’ll never uncover my own treasure.  My book ‘Miner Miracles‘ shares my personal journey through poetry and prose on how I, “mined within to discover my God-given greatness.”

The first of three of  the lessons that I’ve used to move from mediocrity to a life of meaning and purpose: are:

  1. Dig Inside.  You’ve got to search in the right spot to find your own treasures.  You’ve seen the treasure maps that mark the spot of the treasure.   You could put a big old X on your forehead and you’d be marking the spot of the greatest treasure on earth.  Your dreams, your vision, and your gifts and talents are inside you.  You’ll never find them searching outside your own self.  Our journey on this side of the sod begins the day we become conscious and lasts until our very last breath.  We are on this journey together so it is important that we play our part and offer our unique contribution.   Please enjoy my signature poem in this short video, Finding the Jewels Within You. I hope it will inspire you as it has inspired me to continue to dig inside and find my own jewels.

I’m Barbara Talley, The Poet who speaks and inspires.   To find more about me, check out my promo sheet or visit my website.

The First Secret to Moving Beyond Mediocrity

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Do you know what moves a person beyond mediocrity?

It is the size of their dreams.  Puny dreams have no power to propel us beyond mediocrity.  I dare you to dream and to dream big and not find yourself getting more excited and more attractive in the process.  One of the books that inspired me in my youth was, ‘The Magic of Thinking Big.’  While the faithless may try to convince you that you are dreaming too big,  dreaming too big is not usually the problem.  Instead it is not having a dream at all or not dreaming big enough that causes more failures.  My own life attests to these principles.  I was a single mom living in the Projects of Upstate New York, surrounded by naysayers.  Mediocrity was everywhere and was the norm.

I had to consciously dream bigger.

I share this journey out of mediocrity in my book, On Track On Fire On Purpose.  I learned to listen to motivational people and read motivational books.  I still get inspired by others.   Mary Morrissey talks about making a ‘Quantum Leap in 2011′, Les Brown talks about ‘It’s Possible.’ Clif McKnight talks about, ‘If You Can’t Calm the Waters- Learn to Ride the Waves. Inspiration is everywhere. Once we’ve got the right dream, we need the right map, the right mentors, and the right muses.  Stay tuned.

I’m Barbara Talley, The Poet who speaks and inspires.   To find more about me, check out my promo sheet or visit  my website.

Part 1: Three Divine Remedies for Tests, Sorrows, and Adversities

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I just spent the last few days praying, reflecting, and fasting for guidance.  I was feeling intense sorrow and grief and couldn’t seem to shake it.  I felt drained, like I was at the edge, and it was only the power of God that pulled me back on track.   I’d like to share the three divine remedies that helped me,  the first spiritual gem on joy and sorrow comes from the Baha’i Writings and reminds us of the critical importance of being joyful.  When we are sad, we are weaker, are less able to find our calling, and less able to cope and to find the answers we need to pass our “tests”.  The second two gems discussed in Part 2 are from the Holy Bible.

Joy Gives Us Wings

“In this world we are influenced by two sentiments, Joy and Pain. Joy gives us wings! In times of joy our strength is more vital, our intellect keener, and our understanding less clouded. We seem better able to cope with the world and to find our sphere of usefulness. But when sadness visits us we become weak, our strength leaves us, our comprehension is dim and our intelligence veiled. The actualities of life seem to elude our grasp, the eyes of our spirits fail to discover the sacred mysteries, and we become even as dead beings.

No One Escapes

There is no human being untouched by these two influences; but all the sorrow and the grief that exist come from the world of matter — the spiritual world bestows only the joy!”  A man living with his thoughts in this Kingdom knows perpetual joy. The ills all flesh is heir to do not pass him by, but they only touch the surface of his life, the depths are calm and serene.

The Remedy Is At Our Door

Today, humanity is bowed down with trouble, sorrow and grief, no one escapes; the world is wet with tears; but, thank God, the remedy is at our doors. Let us turn our hearts away from the world of matter and live in the spiritual world! It alone can give us freedom! If we are hemmed in by difficulties we have only to call upon God, and by His great Mercy we shall be helped.

If sorrow and adversity visit us, let us turn our faces to the Kingdom and heavenly consolation will be outpoured. If we are sick and in distress let us implore God’s healing, and He will answer our prayer. (Abdu’l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 109)  Baha’i Faith

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JOY Cometh in The Morning

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2010 is coming to a close and like a fierce winter making its tenacious exit, ” my 2010 seems to insist on “going out like a lion.”  But, like the natural and eventual seasonal exit of winter, we must not forget that spring is always on the horizon, even it we can’t quite see it yet.  And, all the divine  grace and  seeds we’ve planted are germinating and destined to break forth in the Spring with an abundant harvest.

Believe It and You Will See It

It is faith that reminds us of our own personal spring and it is only faith that will cause our spring to appear.  And when we “believe it, we will see it.”   The birds, the trees, and the plants don’t judge or doubt their winters or their springs!  You see the birds flying south, the squirrels burying their acorns, and the trees willingly and without a fight allowing their leaves and fruits to be stripped from their limbs.  The trees bend with the winds and in due time her blossoms return.  Nature knows it is the order of things.  We must be more like the lesser kingdoms.

Nothing Lasts Forever

Whether you are feeling anger or sadness, you must remember that this too shall pass.  “Life is in our favor” and joy is promised and on the horizon.  I leave you with this verse from Psalms:  “For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. ” (King James Bible)