SOWING FOR LEGACY: An Inheritance Mindset

I unexpectedly stumbled into urban gardening during the extended locked-in quarantine seasons we have remained in.

Primarily a longing for life, air to breathe and fresh colour outside 4 walls fueled my initial green fingered dabbling. First attempts at growing any and all of the seeds from our kitchen into every recyclable container.

Months later my view has been expanded and incredible life lessons have unfolded in just a few square metres of streetside dirt and hanging pots.

I am still a beginner; picking our first little crop of tomatoes, alugbati (spinach) and chives; but it is incredibly satisfying to watch avocado, mango, papaya, and herbs emerge and be educated in a whole unknown world that I unfortunately missed in the business deadlines and productivity conveyor belt. This exchange of schedules, meetings and paperwork that left me drained empty and frustrated for simple trowel and watering can moments is a gift of realigned time I won't be returning.

What started as a little seed of desperately needed hope in our family navigation of many external and internal changes has gradually unfolded into active land scouting and hopes for a small farm soon...(which is another post story! 💗)

My date palms illustrate the journey; from tiny little seeds germinating for weeks in the dark corner cabinet beneath the stairs-restricted, restrained, locked down with little light.... slowly sprouting over several months into small shoots of green, now into 1 single palm leaf each...not much to measure in the visible....YET!...but the story has much further to go!

While date palms take years to grow to full size their eventual annual harvest is 300-600 lbs of fruit! My Egyptian friend shared with me that gardeners in his hometown plant them with understanding that "they are for the next generation! "

This beautiful concept has captured my thoughts and is reframing my perspective as we consider the next chapters ahead. Often we desire a harvest that can be reaped and enjoyed in this season or perhaps the next; food on our tables in 3 to 4 months reward the outdoor efforts made with each flavourful mouthful.

However, I am wondering what am I investing in for the next generation? What fruit (if any) will they harvest later from the seasons we are planting and growing now?

This thought both bites hard and motivates me to look beyond my singular palm leaf pots; to pray and refocus for our children and their children! Will blessing pass onward and forward as a legacy? Or will the bitter fruit of our present self preservation be reaped by the innocent who didn't plant seeds of fear, judgement, criticism, division, exploitation......(the list is too long!)? Will they be harvesting the decay these produce?

It is not too late to reach beyond ourselves for meaningful fruit but it requires a change of vision; less talk, more action. What we model now is carried into the future. It is a reality check to see and a reality check to propel a response. It requires both!

I want my grandchildren and great grandchildren to be blessed with baskets of dates on their tables, look up at the trees I planted years ago with gratitude and then plant their own seeds.....

"You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last-"

John 15:16