I took this photo at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens.  January in Alabama is probably not the time to visit if you want to see roses and pretty flowers blooming, but I was amazed at all the things I saw that were not only growing, but thriving.  As I walked through the paths of the gardens I noticed many of the plants seemed totally devoid of life and dead.  There were no leaves on the branches, the bark was brown and not a spot of green could be seen.  Of course I am not an expert, but from my superficial autopsy I was about to pronounce them dead.  Then I noticed the seeds lying on the ground, and suddenly there was hope.

          I realized that no matter what the condition of the plant today, even if it was dead and went on to that great garden in the sky, if there were seeds on the ground, there was a promise of a greener tomorrow.  All the flowers of all the tomorrows are in the seed of today.  Where there is a seed, there is a guarantee; no matter what the circumstance is today, there is the assurance of a brighter tomorrow.  Today, everything may look bad; your situation may seem impossible, but if you look closely on the ground around you, you will notice there are seeds on the ground.  Seeds are promises that there is always hope; little packets of assurance that we can have a new beginning.

          Tomorrow does not have to be like yesterday; we can plant a seed of hope and watch it grow into faith.  We can nurture it with a new attitude and prayer and then hold on because spring is coming.  Live in hope and do not get discouraged, because things are going to change; we are going to change.  Choose to live your life in such a way as to continually plant seeds of kindness, encouragement, courage and faith.  If your life seems to be frozen in the winter of discouragement, ask yourself this question; if winter comes, can spring be far behind?

Something to think about:

• The person who sows seeds of kindness will have a perpetual harvest.

• If we try to resist loss and change or to hold on to blessings and joy belonging to a past which must drop away from us, we postpone all the new blessings awaiting us on a higher level and find ourselves left in a barren, bleak winter of sorrow and loneliness.

• Hope is an adventure, a going forward—a confident search for a rewarding life.

• Hope looks for the good in people instead of harping on the worst in them. Hope opens doors where despair closes them. Hope discovers what can be done instead of grumbling about what cannot be done. Hope draws its power from a deep trust in God and the basic goodness of mankind. Hope “lights a candle” instead of “cursing the darkness.” Hope regards problems, small or large, as opportunities. Hope cherishes no illusions, nor does it yield to cynicism.

• I cannot change yesterday. I can only make the most of today and look with hope toward tomorrow.

Looking for some seeds
Rickey Moore