It starts with a seed

If you had seeds lined up next to each other, you couldn’t easily tell what would become what.

Just a little seed. Then lots of patience. Even incredulity. Belief that it will grow. Expectation that it would grow into something larger. It all has to come together, but you have to be patient and let it do its thing.

What I truly don’t understand, and this is obviously just my lack of knowledge of science and nature, is how is so much contained in so little? The future life of a huge structure like a redwood or even the leaves, seeds, and bright yellow flower petals of the sunflower, how is it all in this tiny seed? With nothing else but water, soil, and sunlight? I don’t get that it’s not a living thing, this seed–or is it? Is it just a mass of “stuff” or is it alive? Maybe at a deeper level? How does it wake up and grow? Does it need the soil and water and sun to wake up?

Maybe I learned this in 8th grade, but it just seems so magical–or at least scientific. Or maybe a bit of both.