The other day we pulled down our seed box. It’s a just a cardboard box we keep in a dark cupboard, but it’s a treasure trove. Store bought seeds for vegetables and flowers, wild seeds in old envelopes and packages of rare seeds that came in the mail – our box has it all. We’ve been to seed exchanges and we can spend hours with gardening friends talking about what seeds to plant this year. Seed catalogues and newsletters keep our imaginations going even on the coldest winter days.
Although our garden is covered in snow right now, we know that spring is coming. We expect our dormant shrubs to wake up and we know that our thousand tulip and crocus bulbs are preparing to push through green shoots in a few months. My bees have been huddling together in their hives and on warm days they fly out looking for signs of spring. We wait,
and we prepare.
It has been said that if you’re thinking about next year, plant a seed. If you’re thinking about the next decade, plant trees. But if you’re thinking about the value of your lifetime, teach others to garden. As those who build communities, our interest is in far more than the next season or decade, our hope is that we will build a lasting culture of amazing neighbourhoods that create hope and life.
One of my favourite stories is “The Man Who Planted Trees” by Jean Giono. It is a fictional tale about Elzéard Bouffier who spent his life planting acorns and turned a desolate part of France into a lush sprawling forest. His work was so slow and subtle that people thought it was a miracle – how amazing that a forest would grow from nothing! His work survived wars and schemes to harvest lumber. The man who planted trees simply stuck to his work and in the end a region that was bare and lifeless became a home to new rivers, new villages, and new happy, healthy families. It is a metaphor for the kind of work that is needed if we’re to create life in our own world.
Growth and life require preparation. Creating gardens, as with community, does not happen in a short moment of enthusiasm. It takes thoughtfulness. Health in a community emerges from a passion for goodness, beauty, and care, all of which take time and attentiveness. I’ve observed that anything that has a hope of lasting begins somewhere deep in our soul. Preparing our community for a bright future often means preparing our heart for the journey.
Jesus told a story about a farmer who put seed in the ground. Some seeds landed on rough soil or got caught in the weeds; those seeds didn’t grow. But some seeds fell on soil that was ready and prepared. It took root and grew to life, and in turn gave life to others. Jesus was helping people understand that growth and life begins in the heart, and it challenged those who listened to him. Were their hearts ready to grow all that God was planting in them? Were they ready to bring hope and life to their communities? Are our hearts ready?
A Greek proverb says, “A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.” May we spend our days nurturing hope, goodness, and beauty in our homes, our neighbourhoods, and our city.
