Germination

For a time, nothing appears to happen.

The surface remains unchanged.

But beneath it, the seed has already begun responding to its environment.

The shell softens.
Something moves.

And then the first structure emerges.

Not a leaf.
Not a stem.

A root.

It grows into darkness before anything reaches toward the light.

Perhaps beginnings are often like this.

The earliest evidence of change may exist long before anyone standing above the surface can see it.

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Some growth happens in silence.