I Love Tu B'Shvat

I present here an anonymous guest post from a beautiful Northern Figtree.

I have very fond memories of tu beshvat from my youth. Seriously, what is better then coming to school, having the school provide the ammunition, and spending the rest of the day pelting your friends with rock hard dried fruit.
However as I have gotten older, I may not be much wiser, but the day has become much more then a dried fruit free for all. Tu Beshvat is a day filled with so much meaning and potential, that if we look a little bit beyond the surface we can truly learn a lot.
Says the Divrai Chaim of Sanz ztl that on Tu Beshvat we should make a big feast. We are now entering a time period filled with joy and simcha, because from Tu Beshvat till Shavuos we have a diffrent yom tov every 15 days. (rosh chodesh adar-purim-rosh chodesh nissan-pesach-rosh chodesh iyur-pesach shani-rosh chodesh sivan-shavuos). The question is, as we enter this time period of Simcah, how should we begin.
I think we can find the answer to this question, with a teaching from the Lubavitcher Rebbi ztl that I saw quoted by Yitzchak Buxbaum. On Tu Beshvat we have the custom of eating fruits, but this seems strange. In reality, at this point of the season, fruits aren't even close to being ripe. As a matter of fact on Tu Beshvat only the sap inside the tree begins to flow. So why do we eat fruits now before their season has come?
He answers so beautifully, that on Tu Beshvat we really do have the whole perfection of the trees yearly cycle, however we have it in potential. It make take time, care, and hard work, but the potential that we will need to succeed in growing the fruits of the tree are here now. And as we sit at our feast, enjoying the sweetness of the fruits, we are reminded that with hard work, determination, and a proper use of the hidden potential inside the tree and each one of us, we have the ability to produce beautiful fruits.
Each one of us has so much potential. We are all capable of doing things we never dreamed we would be able to achieve. But we must believe in ourselves and our ability to succeed no matter what the task. We have to take that first step, plant that first little seed and then we can see it grow. Tu Beshvat is beautiful reminder of that. Rabbianu, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov ztl said " its not good to be old. There are pious and rightous elders, but to be older is not good. You must remain young, renewing yourself each day and always making a fresh start". Let us use Tu Beshvat as our fresh start. Let us recognize the potential that each one of us has, and the fruits that we have the potential to grow, if we use our kochos properly.
Enjoy the fruits and Gut Yom Tov- Gut Yur- Gut Purim.