Sowing: Containers that Nurture

After the Sunday service couple of weeks ago, I asked my son how his Religious Exploration class went that day. He is in the Earth group, and he has been enthusiastic about sharing their plans for garden spaces on UUCG’s grounds. This particular Sunday he told me that they had started seeds in planters that they made from old water bottles and tee shirts. I asked my son what kind of seeds he had planted. He responded that he hadn’t planted any seeds himself; he had worked on assembling the planters, filling them with soil, and adding water. Others in the group had done the actual planting.

The powerful metaphor of creating containers and healthy conditions for seeds that other people plant struck me immediately. This is part of being in community – we are providing a fertile, healthy environment for the seeds that we as a group decide to sow and nurture, even though we as individuals are not always the ones choosing the seeds and doing the planting. For example, I am so proud of what we have accomplished in becoming a Welcoming Congregation. I was not part of the small, dedicated group of people who planted that seed and organized the process, but I am glad I could be part of the fertile community doing the work together. I feel similarly about the Green Sanctuary certification we are now undertaking. That was not my seed to sow, but I do feel that I have played my part in building a community that is ready to receive it, tend it, and watch it blossom.

I hear from my son now that the Earth group’s seeds have already sprouted and the baby plants are doing well. I hope they continue to thrive. I have so much gratitude for the container this community provides, and the seeds I have seen sprout and grow and thrive here.

Paige Varner

The Words of Wisdom? is a publication of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Gwinnett.