The View from Hope Garden: Wick

It is the time of year when new life seems to spring from everywhere. The air becomes fragrant and the urge to return to the garden grows strong. I've never claimed to have much of a green thumb, but what I do have is an insatiable desire to dig in the dirt. Over the years, my garden has given me peace (peas), time (thyme) to dream, and food for thought. Most of all, my garden has taught me to Hope. I plant things, and then I HOPE they grow. You too? Join me as I share some of the insights Hope Garden has taught me.

Today's thought: Just because it looks dead, doesn't mean it is.

I looked at the pot at the corner of my front porch. Left in a sheltered spot throughout the winter, it should have been safe from any harm. Still, the twigs poking up from the little bit of earth there did not look promising. They looked dead. Thinking my green thumb had turned black once again, I tried to decide whether or not to discard the apparently lifeless plant. Then I remembered a line from "The Secret Garden".

"It's wick." says Dicken, the boy from the story. He showed how even things that appear to be dead and useless can have life and value in them. There is no life that is wasted or without value. None of us knows what the future holds, and it may become a glorious garden if we don't give up too soon.

So I took one small snip off the end of a stick in that pot. You guessed it. It was "wick". The pot will stay and continue to hold it's treasure. Treasure? Now it's a treasure? Oh yes. Because now I have hope for my plant. Hope always brings a treasure.

What is it in your own life that looks like there is nothing left but to give up and throw it out? Is it a dream you thought should be in full bloom by now? or perhaps a relationship that seems to be going through a frosty season? Let me ask you, does it have life INSIDE, perhaps, that you cannot see easily from where you currently stand? Want to find out? Spend some time with that person, or situation. Take the time to learn if it is "wick". Let the life within it, and you, produce hope for the beauty that will come as the season changes.

Song of Songs 2:11-12, "See! the winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land."