Trust That Which Looks Devastating

Olive growing from a fire-scorched tree in Samos, Greece

A man was breaking up soil

when another man came by, "Why 

are you ruining this land?"

"Don't be a fool!  Nothing can

grow until the ground 

is turned over and crumbled.

There can be no roses 

and no orchard

without first this that looks devastating."

"The Illuminated Rumi," translated by Coleman Barks