Maybe three... four... times... in the last twenty-five years...
I planted hope...
Every planting... of a seed... a bulb... requires... hope...
Now hope that is seen is not hope.
For who hopes for what he sees?
Romans 8:24 ESV
I see the bulbs...
I see the picture on the box...
But what I see after planting...?
Nothing... but dirt... and... mess...
I think about farmers... as I plant...
What if my whole livelihood... was dependent... on what I buried...?
How much hope... is needed... to plant dead seeds... in hopes of crops...? to support families...?
It's hard enough for me to get it together to plant bulbs... which I love to see in the Spring...
It doesn't happen every year... because... sometimes... it's just not worth the wait... or the what-if's...
What if they don't grow...?
what if this is a waste... of time... energy...?
what if...?
Hope... it's like that...
To live by it...
speak it into someone else's life...
depend on it...
requires... patience...
But if we hope for what we do not see,
we wait for it with patience.
Romans 8:25 ESV
There is no immediate gratification... when it comes to... planting... hope...
I look at the pumpkins... gracing my front door...
...and consider the hope... planted by farmers... who grew these orange globes...
Hope... in dried up seeds...
planted... in the dark...
beneath... the ground...
Bursting into produce... to sell...
and begin the cycle... again...
So I'm inspired... to wait... and hope...
not only on tulip bulbs...
but Him...
And hope does not disappoint us,
because God has poured out his love
into our hearts by the Holy Spirit,
whom he has given us.
Romans 5:5
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