Earthworms live in soil and eat decaying plant material. Their movement helps mix and aerate the earth, making it healthier for plants. And perhaps, one thing that can be learned from the earthworm is the significance of daring to go beyond the surface level. Without earthworms, soil would become compacted and less able to support the growth of crops and wild plants. In the same way earthworms patiently carve out new spaces underground, we can shape the spaces we move through with quiet persistence and determination. The smallest act can shift what seemed unmovable.
Even when our efforts take time to show results, what remains is a kind of patient persistence that can continue to grow and a determination that we can continue to build upon. We can decide to say “yes” to depth. To spend more time on what good, honest things hold, not just what shines. To be present to the soil of this very moment, not only the distant skies.
This does not mean hiding away forever or stagnating. Instead, it means thinking about the long-term, including the long-term that extends beyond ourselves. Like earthworms, we can learn to work steadily beneath the surface by staying present in what’s slow but necessary, and as a result, transform the landscape itself. A landscape not made overnight, but built to nourish what comes next. That kind of steady effort may not look like much at first, but it’s often how something good begins. – Morgan Harper Nichols
