Five Tiny Seeds In My Garden

Many people in my new hometown have their own gardens and they are quick to share a sumptuous tomato with this California transplant.  They probably find my attitude about gardening a little peculiar.  Who in their right mind plants hope seeds?  As a leftie, I argue I'm in a small minority who do operate out of their right minds. I planted five seeds in my garden labeled hope, one for each member of my family.  The seeds sprouted at various intervals and required different degrees of care in order to reach maturity. Here are some gardening tips for anyone interested in trying these seeds:

1. The first hope seed you plant must be for yourself.  The entire garden fails if you do not believe in hope.  Plant this seed in fertile soil and nurture it with love and tender care.
2. The second seed is equally important to your own personal hope seed.  This seed pushed through the ground in my garden like a newborn baby emerging from its mother's womb, eager to be a part of a whole new world.  I will never fully understand the composition of this seed, however, it appears to be deeply rooted in faith.
3. Your decision to expand your garden of hope seeds is limited only by your own imagination.  Hope doesn't need an over-size plantation or an ideal climate.  What it needs is a commitment to nurture every seed planted until maturity is reached.  There were times when my hope seeds behaved more like weeds.  When they rebelled, I talked with them, telling them I knew they never belonged to me, but to the One who loaned them to me.  My job as the gardener is to water each seed with love and encourage each plant to bask in the sunlight.

Jesus talked about the mustard seed, the tiniest seed in the world.  In Luke 17:6, He said, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you."  If you can do that to mulberry trees, ponder what you can do with hope seeds.  Plant some in your garden today.