Seeds of Hope

Seeds come in all shapes and sizes.  If you dump a packet of mixed wildflower seeds into your hand, you will find a great variety.  Some are smooth, shiny and rounded.  Others are flat and pointy, still others have tiny filaments sticking out to catch the wind or get stuck in the fur of animals (or your socks!).  Seeds are dispersed in a variety of ways; including wind, water, animals and people. Seeds have their own set of parameters; in order to germinate the seed needs a specific amount of time and water.  Sometimes the temperature or amount of light exposure is specific in order to stir the seed to begin to grow.

Hope is like a seed.  When you hope, it is like a seed being blown into your future.  Dreaming, wonder, anticipation …. These too are seeds of hope that you sow into the landscape of your life.

When you look at a dry seed, it doesn’t look anything like the plant it will become.  Whether a flower seed, an apple seed, an acorn or the tiny seed of a Redwood tree, a seed is a dry rather unimpressive thing.  Even big seeds; think of an avocado seed or a mango seed – compared to the tree they will produce the seed is unassuming and small.

 But within that seed there is potential!  Possibility.  It may be dormant for now, but life is hidden within!

 Apply that to dreams, the things you hope for and desire.  For the most part, we cannot make our dreams come true.  Often, we think of them as unlikely, maybe even impossible.  The hope itself may seem small and insignificant. 

 Now think of a poppy seed, barely bigger than the period at the end of this sentence.  Poppy seeds are very easy to grow.  They are not picky about soil depth or type.  They don’t require much water, but they do fine even with a lot of water.  If you have a couple poppy plants, they will reseed themselves year after year, often two or three times within the same year.  If you decide you want to get rid of them, you will need to be determined and consistent in weeding the little plants that will sprout up.

 I think hope is like that too.  An individual dream may seem small and unlikely.  But hope is powerful.  Hope perseveres.  When you choose to think of a dream of yours as possible, even likely – it is like watering that seed.  Your hope is alive and it will grow.  At some point; it will send down roots and produce a little shoot.  It will grow and produce fruit, or flowers!  When you are hopeful about one area of your life, it will spread to other areas as well.

 What are you hoping for?  Think of little things and big ones….   What are you hoping to learn, to do, to become?  What are your hopes for your family? Your home and community?  What do you hope to see and experience?

 Too often, when considering the future, we sow seeds of worry.  Worry produces fear.  Fear causes us to become stuck where we are and tells us to dread the future. 

Wonder, curiosity, anticipation …. These sow seeds of hope.  Hope calls us into the future with joyful anticipation of what is to come.  Hope produces joy and contentment.

Plant seeds of hope.  Water them and see them bloom!