Seeds and Hope

I’ve been writing a lot about my garden lately – a timely topic as we celebrate Thanksgiving weekend!

Much of what I planted last spring didn’t quite take off the way I had intended – or hoped! I have tried to leave things growing as long as possible, yet with the frosty temperatures coming this weekend, most of it is now in.

My squashes came in today let me just acknowledge how thankful I am that I am not relying on this crop to feed me through the winter!

Three pathetically small buttercup squashes were all that came in this fall. One was too tiny to have any flesh, the other two offered a total yield of half a cup (tasty, but tiny).

However; they also provided seeds for next year’s crop. Even the itty-bitty-quarter-sized squash had some viable seeds. So, one hopes for a different outcome next year!

The seeds are little pods of hope; they are a comfort for the future.

In a time of uncertainty in the world, when civility seems a lost art, when fear-mongering seems to be the solitary political platform, when conflicts are affecting thousands of people, when disasters are devastating communities… it is easy to sink into darkness, that place of sadness, apathy, or grief.

Yet the seeds prevail. And I believe that there are seeds of goodness that transcend the gardens; in our lives, in our relationships, in our actions, in our imaginations…

The seeds are there, even in the tiniest or darkest of places. I believe they are worth seeking out, and saving, and planting: so that they may grow.

And when the seeds of hope start growing, they start nourishing us – and perhaps this is how we will overcome the darkness that encroaches in the world.