lessons learned: hope came to the garden in the form of pumpkin seeds

new year pledges
in my hand
pumpkin seeds

~Elizabeth St. Jacques, Poetry in the Light

Over the weekend, I found a small treasure–a 4 oz. Mason jar with a mixture of pumpkin seeds in it.  These were not

regular pumpkin seeds.  Two years ago, when I worked at a church that is famous for its Pumpkin Patch, I had saved seeds from a variety of heirloom pumpkins and squashes white, green and striped in color.  I had put them up to be planted last year, and clearly, I had secured them so well, that I never found them.  Until Saturday.

Seeds salvaged from months’ old pumpkins lying in the compost bin then stored in darkness for two years.  I advised myself, “Don’t get your hopes up.”  I headed outside and at the edges of the carrot and potato beds, I stuck a few in the dirt.  Over in the sunny patch by the coneflower, I poked a few under the mulch.  I added some rich compost around them in an effort to encourage them along.  My spirit joyfully danced around, “Aren’t you excited?”  My mind responded, “We’ll see.”

Last night as I perused the gardens, I stopped by way of the corn and potato bed.  Something dark green caught my eye–too fat for a carrot sprig.  I turned my head–2 shoots appearing from one of the mounds of pumpkin seeds.  As I looked around, I noticed several other friends appeared to start peeking through their soil as well.

And there they were–my “hopes.”  They had come up.

You see, those pumpkin seeds reaffirmed what I already know about creation but never fail to be in awe of–that new life

springs forth even under the most questionable conditions.  It simply takes a little sun, a little rain, a little care, and a little hope–hope being that childlike, unconditional desire that something good will come.  And it did.