The Art of Gardening

Matthew 13: 1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 

At House of Hope, we talk a lot about planted seeds. I would like to think that seeds get tossed our way from everyone we interact with. Much like the parable in Matthew 13, some of these seeds don’t grow roots while others might. A variety of factors could determine which seeds we plant in the lives of others take root and often we probably will never even know which ones will start to grow. I would like to visualize it as though all of these seeds contribute to our own individual internal gardens. The image of a lush, beautiful garden that is growing inside of each of us. A variety of values and beliefs that we hold close. 

My 5th-grade teacher, Mrs. Brykailo, planted seeds of value and worth when she routinely asked how I was doing and genuinely cared about the answer.

Seeds of security and trust are being planted in me by Chris and the love he shows me.

The flowers of consistency and perseverance are from Brooke’s mom, Lori. 

Mrs. Quick planted seeds of patience and authenticity when I shadowed her Kindergarten class in my senior year of high school.

The vines of friendship and laughter that have been weaving their way through my garden for the last 16 or so years are from Brooke and Alica. 

I know that not everyone’s internal gardens are lush and vibrant. There are seeds of mistrust, abandonment, or trauma that have taken root. There is pruning that needs to happen. So at House of Hope we keep tossing seeds, hoping some of them grow.  

Now that we have been running programs for the last 8 years, we are beginning to get a glimpse of what could possibly be little sprouts in the seeds that grew roots. We will probably never get to know about most of the impact that House of Hope will have on the lives of our neighbors, but we keep showing up, setting boundaries, pursuing relationships, and encouraging growth in hopes that something beautiful grows.

-Alyssa