Do you know how to garden?

You do not have to know much about gardening to know that you must plant seeds.  Even if you do not know anything else about gardening – you at least know that you must plant seeds. 

I would like to suggest that we are given the opportunity to plant seeds everyday of our lives in what we say and how we live.  We can plant seeds by choosing to build up and encourage one another – seeds of love, seeds of affirmation, seeds of encouragement and support.    

Or we can plant seeds that grow division, that tear down, that destroy another person’s reputation through our gossiping of them. 

We can plant seeds of affirmation and love or, we can also plant seeds of hatred and division – the choice is ours. 

I do not know if you have seen the Netflix special by Hanna Gadsby called Nanette.  But if you have not, I highly recommend it.  She is an Australian lesbian comedian who has mastered the art of comedy and storytelling.  She is brilliant.  And during the special, she starts talking about how much she hated herself for years.  A self-hatred deeply rooted in her and how she says she must give up comedy because the only comedy she knew how to do for the longest time was self-deprecating humor. 

And she says this about self-hatred; “Self-hatred is only ever a seed planted from the outside in but when you do that to a child that becomes a weed that grows so fast that a child doesn’t know any difference.  It becomes its natural depravity.” 

“Self-hatred is always a seed planted from the outside in.”

We have an opportunity to recognize the enormous power we have, to plant seeds of affirmation and love.  Our words matter. 

I remember once telling a friend of mine how much I hate going to Six Flags.  As a younger priest in the parish, the youth groups would always go to Six Flags over the summer, sometimes, multiple times.  And I would go.  But I hated the heat and the discomfort of being hot and stuck on a ride in a seat I could barely fit in, and… I hated waiting in long lines for a ride which would make me nauseous.

So, this friend after hearing me complain about waiting in long lines asked, “Than why do you go?” 

“I go,” I said, “because I get to wait in line.” 

And then I explained, the purpose of going is so that I can wait in line with the youth of my parish.  We get to hang out, spend time together, I get to hear their stories, what kind of music they listen to, what they’re interested in, who’s dating who and who has a crush on who.  And, I get to plant seeds, seeds of affirmation, seeds of support, seeds of love.  And it never fails, as these young people get older, and when they find their seeds fell on rocky ground and they needed to talk, they would often reach out to me because they knew I was approachable, they knew I would listen, they knew I would support them.   

Our words matter.  It matters how we speak to each other, how we treat each other, how we affirm each other.  My trips to Six Flags taught me the importance of waiting in line and the power of planting seeds.   

And then I explained, the purpose of going is so that I can wait in line with the youth of my parish.  We get to hang out, spend time together, I get to hear their stories, what kind of music they listen to, what they’re interested in, who’s dating who and who has a crush on who.  And, I get to plant seeds, seeds of affirmation, seeds of support, seeds of love.  And it never fails, as these young people get older, and when they find their seeds fell on rocky ground and they needed to talk, they would often reach out to me because they knew I was approachable, they knew I would listen, they knew I would support them.   

Our words matter.  It matters how we speak to each other, how we treat each other, how we affirm each other.  My trips to Six Flags taught me the importance of waiting in line and the power of planting seeds.   

And then I explained, the purpose of going is so that I can wait in line with the youth of my parish.  We get to hang out, spend time together, I get to hear their stories, what kind of music they listen to, what they’re interested in, who’s dating who and who has a crush on who.  And, I get to plant seeds, seeds of affirmation, seeds of support, seeds of love.  And it never fails, as these young people get older, and when they find their seeds fell on rocky ground and they needed to talk, they would often reach out to me because they knew I was approachable, they knew I would listen, they knew I would support them.   

Our words matter.  It matters how we speak to each other, how we treat each other, how we affirm each other.  My trips to Six Flags taught me the importance of waiting in line and the power of planting seeds.   

Do you know how to garden?  You do not have to know much about gardening to know that you must plant seeds.  Let us make that our mission – to plant seeds of love and affirmation in ourselves and in others.