Her Master had once taken her fears away and made her submissive resolve strong with a simple parable of an Olive tree. She had served him for many years and everyday something that happened to her or her Master brought her back to the simple but instructive story he had related to her. Life was as he said, he was the strong immovable Olive tree, majestic and powerful, but in the end totally dependent on her for its optimum health. She, its devoted gardener, always gained the sweet fruit from her tree and the comforts of its shade, the heat of its dried branches, and the loving strength of its massive trunk. She had learned the lesson that without each other they survived life, but did not live life to the fullest.

   It came to be, as with any relationship of increasing enlightment, that she reached a point where she needed to commit her entire life to the devotion of her Master. In order to grow at the same pace as he was growing her submission needed to grow to its natural conclusion. She needed to give up all control, however small, to her Master.

   Although they were very close and had very few diverging goals in life, they had some disagreements from time to time and she was allowed to hold on to her limits and decide when she was ready to push them. Her Master was very understanding and allowed her such freedoms. He had never pushed her limits until she was ready and she was very trustful of his intuition when he decided it was time. He had gotten her over so very many limits and made her happier and freer after each and every one of them! But now, the moment of truth that every submissive wishing the ultimate gift of submission must face was here—it was time to relinquish all her power to her Master. No longer could she hold her limits, she must hand them over to her Master to hold. She could no longer allow herself certain liberties that she jealously guarded; she had to hand them over to her Master. In short, she was to be a complete slave, with no rights and no limits of her own. The mere thought terrorized her.

She had danced around this subject with her Master for many months now and she could not bring herself to this pivotal point in her submissive devotions. She was afraid to lose herself in the submission, she was terrorized that as she could no longer say "no" and he would force her to face all her limits and force her to abandon them before she was ready. Even if he had been so good at knowing when she was ready to face and challenge her limits before, it was always she who decided to release them from her store of limits, now he would hold them and they did not belong to her. She was alone without any walls, without any privacy, she was totally naked before him. Her fears started that flight response that lead her to the Olive Tree parable before as she thought that giving up all control was unbearable and she needed to protect herself by running away.

Her Master had been quite patient and explained that sometimes in life we had to be "forced" to face a life altering change as fear and other factors often held us back from improving our lives. That sometimes we simply could not stall anymore and had to take a plunge of faith into the unknown—very often to find out that our fears were unfounded and that our new elevated state of enlightment was such pleasure that we could imagine what held us back.

When we are forced into a corner by life we either sink or swim, and sometimes when we do not think we can swim, we become Olympic swimmers as our taste for life is so strong, and in swimming so hard we discover a new passion for what it is we were trying to avoid. And so that point had arrived for her, she needed to take the plunge of faith and relinquish even the most insignificant control issues to her Master. She needed to become a complete slave.

He also explained that although it seems so stupid to argue over something so intangible and seemingly trivial as who holds on to her limits the mere thought of her holding on to her limits is in itself a form of control and holds her back from completing her submissive devotions. But, her biggest fears of losing these limits were really unfounded. When a Master holds something as potentially devastating to a sub missive's mental well being as her limits, he must himself show the strength of his complete power over her life by knowing and judging when, if ever, a limit will be pushed or dismissed. His care over that which she cared for before, has to be even more than hers. Since in a consensual D/s relationship the submissive holds on to the most important power of all, the Master must assure that she does not dethrone him if he abuses his powers. Her Master’s holding her limits did not mean that they would be violated without her consent, but it did mean that the burden they created in her are released from her shoulders and her life is free to devote more of her soul and mind to her submissive devotions and therefore complete her journey of enlightment. With her keeping even one gram of control, she is not as light and free to focus enough to rise in submissive levels.

Even with all this care and the incredible trust she bestowed upon him, the submissive was still ready to bolt in terror of the unknown even if every gram of her soul and mind and body wanted this freedom and this final step. And so the Master, once again patiently made her kneel before him and as the memory of the first story flashed instantly in her mind, he began to open his arms as before to appear as the majestic Olive tree she adored…….

My gardener, in the bad season that has beseeched us this year you have been so loyal next to me. You have toiled so hard to keep me vibrant and alive in better condition than all other trees around me. You have proven your devotion beyond your own expectations. But now that the water has dried out, now that I am at great risk of dying, you must trust me more than ever. You must walk blindly and trust me to help you find the water I desperately need to live and feed you the golden fruit on my branches.

You are tired, frustrated, and dejected by the difficulties that mother earth has brought upon us. You are holding back a little water reserve to help yourself in case the worse happens. You have the water that I need saved for yourself and you are so afraid to let it go as your fear of death is so strong. But my love, I need the water to give you all that I give you. I need to hold the water in my roots so that my fruits are healthy and nutritious for you.

I need to receive the sacrifice of all that is you and all that you own. I need your complete and unwavering trust. Together we will make it! When the thirst ravages you as the thirst ravages me now, I will teach you ways to quench it from what I provide you. When the sun bakes your skin, with the water that you surrender to me I will be able to offer you the shade you will need. When other plants cannot give you the nourishment you require, the water will make my fruit still sweet and nutritious. By holding nothing back for yourself you save two lives and you forge the trust of a lifetime.

My gardener, I love you more than life itself, even if my request may seem as selfish as you are for withholding the water from me. But understand that what I know will save us both and bring us even closer. Sure your thirst will not be quenched as fast as if you drank the water directly, but the struggle you will endure will let you taste all of me and give you the reward of your submission to me. What may seem like I am putting myself first will show you its truth soon enough. You have trusted me many time before, trust me now when my request seems unreasonable and when everything you believe and know seems upside down.

As you give me all that you own, as you lay naked, vulnerable, and literally put your life in my branches; know in your heart that your tree lives for you. That your tree risks all for you. What seems selfish is only wisdom turning the world upside down and causing what seems a sacrifice to turn into an eternal union bonded by the strongest trust! Remember that my trust for you is ever so complete. I stand naked without holding anything back from you each and every second that father time breathes into existence. I stand defenseless to your tools that can cut my roots and offer me a slow withering death or to your whim that can leave me die without the water I need so desperately, I am and forever will be at your mercy. Without your defense insects and choking weeds will eventually kill me and bird and marauding humans will destroy my branches to get to my fruit. I ask you to bear all of your trust on me, but it is not without doing the same things for you that I ask this. I am as bare before you, as trusting, as completely at your mercy; as I ask you to be for me. No matter how big and strong and vibrant my life has been with your care, I have always been and will always be at your mercy. You guide my life as surely as you breathe the air that fills your lungs. Yet I trust you and give you my fruit and my wood and my shade and my pride. I am at your mercy always, trust me and grow strong enough to give me everything—through your gift we will both survive this drought.

Yes, I know that you cannot imagine how giving me the water will help you. The well where you draw the water is almost empty and surely the water will not last me as long as it will last you. But I guarantee you that I will show you how we will both survive and live life beyond this season and for many more. Trust me and follow me as you must know now that I will always do my best for you. I will never take what you are so fearful to give up and turn it against you. Without understanding what I intend to do, I am asking you to grow with me and give me your trust. Sure I could explain everything to you and make sense and you will see that I am right and that I am not being selfish. You will see how your apparent sacrifice is only a logical move. I could tell you how your surrender to trusting me so completely will bring us closer as you taste all of me and love even more of me than you thought you could before. But, I want to show you all these things so that you feel it, not know it; so you experience it not think it; so your entire being remembers it, not just your mind.

With a bowed head ashamed for her lack of trust, the gardener surrender her water and the tree taught her a love she could not imagine. To conserve the water she toiled long and hard to expose his roots so that the proper roots absorb the most water that could be absorbed and therefore stretch the little water remaining. To her amazement even that little water kept the tree strong and it was the greenest and most fertile tree in the valley. With his splendor he had her lick and all the leaves in his strongest branches to gather the due that laid upon them on the evenings. Then conserve her energy during the day by shading her with the very leaves her water kept green and on the branches. His fruit still moist and nourishing fed her well. Her adoration of his leaves brought her so close to him, he saved her life with the water he could gather but not drink and he made her so much closer to him—she discovered parts of him that she had never thought were there. She had new nooks and crannies to that she loved to squeeze into and feel all his leaves and branches cradle her as a strong man holds his woman in his arms. Her thirst was not quenched completely or immediately as if she had drunk the water from the well, but she found a new thirst for life and a new appreciation of the tree’s wisdom and guidance. She was freer by working harder to quench her thirst than by getting it all at once from the well, since she not only appreciated the water more but also discovered more things about her wonderful tree. After the drought was over she still found herself often gathering the due from her tree to keep her ever so close. She found that even though she could always take control of the water back when the water was plentiful, she did not need to. She did not want to. She had a greater appreciation for life and a greater appreciation for the tree that could have explained everything to her and made the experience a lesson to be soon forgotten—but instead risked his own life to teach her a lifelong lesson and make her trust of him so complete. He taught her with the deep lesson that only experience can teach that letting go that which seemed insane to give up, was the best thing she ever did for her tree lived and provided for her even more, he taught her and got her so close to him that she could hardly stop back the tears of appreciation every time she thought about it. The wise tree she chose to follow and care for, the wise tree that she was one with, the wise tree that she trusted so completely as to never question nor fear…for he was the wise tree that always put her first!

The submissive did not get all the lessons of this most complicated parable but she did gain the understanding that her Master was wise enough to take all her power, guide her life, and put her first!