alioyo
We are to cast aside the worries of this world. It does not mean to gently set them aside but to cast them off completely. Throw them. Toss them. Chuck them so far away that we will never see them again. We are not to be weighed down by the sins and pleasures that are temporary while on earth. We need to cast aside the things that will one day rot and take hold of the things which will last for eternity.
A stem comes from a seed. The seed is tiny and it starts out with nothing. But as it is watered and nourished it grows and produces the stem. This is symbolic of our lives. We start out small with no experiences, but as we age and live day to day we gain different experiences. Our experiences are our stem. We either have a thick and strong stem or a weak and spindly stem.