(Behold, the glory of Paint!)
Our lives are brilliantly reflected in plants.
Fruit: We all want things, things we consider important, things that may or may not be tangible. You might want a well-paying job, a stable family, a sense of purpose. These things are fruit.
Stem:Just like fruit doesn't appear on it's own, what we want won't manifest just because we want it. The fruit needs to be attached to a stem, a plan that moves resources to where they are needed.
Roots: But the stem useless without roots. Roots absorb water and nutrients, things that the plant needs that it cannot produce on its own. At the core of the root structure is the taproot: all other parts of the root emanate from the tap root. This is what you hold to be truth. This defines the rest of your life. Spreading out from the tap root are lateral roots. While the tap root is the most important root, lateral roots are essential. You need to expand your knowledge of what you are taking root in. The more you understand your soil, the more you can glean from it.
Soil: Even with the best root system ever devised, however, roots mean nothing if you aren't rooted in something strong. Soil needs to be both stable and nutritious. If not, the plant is liable to fall and starve. You need to be rooted in something that is solid and does not fade away, and in something that provides you with knowledge, hope, and other intangible things.
Water: Plants also need water, if they are to flourish and produce fruit. Water represents material things. We all have physical needs. We need food to be able to function, we need a way to stay warm and safe, we need money to buy most of the things we need. But just like with water, you need to have the correct amount of things. Too few, and you simply won't have the capacity to produce fruit. Too much, and your foundation will be weakened, and you won't have access to the nutrients you need just as badly.
Wind: Wind is the trials we experience. It both makes life uncomfortable and is absolutely critical to success. While wind does not exist to test the plant's foundation, it certainly does test it. Also, as the wind beats against the plant, the plant will react (in a way) by strengthening itself, so that it can better endure the wind in the future. It is the same with us. While the trials we face generally don't arise or exist for the sole purpose of our destruction, they still test you. If you are rooted strongly enough and are getting the nutrients you need, you will be able to endure the trials, and will be stronger for it.
Sunlight/Leaves: The key to photosynthesis is sunlight. It provides the energy for the plant to produce sugar. In our lives, it is some kind of negative thing in our life, something we want to change in the world, something that makes you angry. Although the sun beats down on you, and is at times almost unbearable, without it, you would have no drive to produce fruit, nothing to push you to be better. But you need leaves in order to use sunlight. You have to be willing to absorb this thing that drives you. A plant without leaves can do nothing with sunlight except be scorched by it.
Flower: But fruit doesn't come from the stem or leaves or roots (in this illustration, at least). Fruit is the product of a flower. Flowers are dormant ideas, things that could become something that haven't experienced the right trigger event.
Stamen: Pollen comes from the stamen, and is used to fertilize flowers. Pollen is the sharing of information, be it in the form of actions, words, or chaos-theory like wisps of thoughts or emotion. Pollen is borne on the winds of circumstance, or by insects or birds, the unwitting carriers of this information. Pollen can come from the stamen of other plants, or from the same plant, depending on what the wind and carriers give access to.
Pistil: The pistil is what receives the pollen, guiding it down to the unfertilized egg. You can have all the ideas in the world thrown at you, but if you aren't open to them and willing to contemplate them, you will not have fruit. When you observe the affairs of the world, you can evaluate which things are best. Once your observations fertilize the seed, you will have an idea of what you want your life to look like and produce. Thus, fruit begins to grow, assuming it is properly connected.
We have come full circle.
Addition:
Plants also reflect how compromise should look in our lives. As a plant grows, it will adjust it's shape to have the best access to sunlight possible. Also, plants change shape in response to the wind, strengthening certain cells to better resist the effects of wind. But the plant cannot compromise the integrity it's roots. To do so would weaken the foundation. In us, this is seen as a willingness to compromise with our plans (stem) as trials (wind) make us stronger or as what drives us (leaves and sunlight) becomes more and less apparent and clear to us, but as an utter refusal to compromise on principals, on things that every part of your life rests upon. Mess with the stem a bit, the plant can still produce fruit. Mess with the roots, and the whole plant gets pulled out of the ground.
