Parables of Sowing

Remembering the Future

Foreword: This is not the biblical story with which many of you would be familiar (“The Parable of the Sower,” versions of which are found in Matthew, Mark and Luke). Instead it is a reflection — in the context of what makes for a good society and opportunities for human flourishing — of what and how we, ourselves, are sowers. It was inspired by a recent email conversation with my dear friend, Chris Owen (see Chris’ writing here and here), who in response to a question of how we might approach the current lack of shared cultural moral frameworks, suggested that part of our work now is to help create the possibility of something better in the future by “sowing seeds.” I confess to a certain impatience with that perspective — I’m often fixated on fixing the present — even as I recognize in it deep wisdom. You could say that I sometimes “forget the future.” How about you?

I almost stopped working on this reflection the other day — I suppose the future just didn’t feel accessible to me for a variety of reasons. Poor/lack of sleep (stupid time change! 😠), a barrage of news of war and domestic atrocities, even a chilly, rainy day all contributed to a feeling that the present moment was/is a kind of pit or a black hole whose gravity well had me trapped. Ever feel that way? This sense of being stuck/anxious tends to promote three particular responses when people consider the future, according to Peter Steinke¹:

1. Denial - Ignoring or actively suppressing awareness of present realities

2. Despair - Giving up on hope for any good future

3. Magic - Desperately seeking “miraculous” solutions, even those offered by charlatans

I have certainly seen those at work in organizations like churches, but also find them clearly operating (on overdrive!) in our current culture… and sometimes in myself. In fact, I'd say that all three are close by in any given week (especially the first two…).

In the course of writing this reflection I recognized that I spend a lot more time in the present and the past than I do in the future. (Hopefully more in the present than the past, though I wonder how I may continue shifting somewhat toward a past-orientation as I age — or at least that’s what I’ve experienced with my parents and many other older folks). When I was young and thought about “the future,” the scope of it was almost always within my lifetime (even things like flying cars, which I really did think we’d have by now…). At this point, though, I’m at an age where the future begins to suggest a time when I won’t be around.

I have both taken solace in and been challenged by this Greek proverb: “A society grows great when [the old] plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit.” I confess that I’m not much of a farmer, even on a small scale. I’ve grown tomatoes (though one year forgot to take the container off the root ball before planting them 🙄), basil, and one really good knockout rose bush. I’ve planted a few trees, though unfortunately some were Bradford Pears, which I now know to be a problematic, invasive species — what does that mean for my contribution to the future??). So maybe I'm better off sowing metaphorical seeds!

It’s hard for me not to get caught up in the immediacy of present personal and societal challenges… and when I say “caught up in” I mean completely absorbed by to the point of forgetting the future altogether. And when I do so, I find myself growing more anxious; my actions/thoughts focusing on what it means for me/us to survive rather than thrive.

Just as Mr. Rogers recommended that in a time of struggle we look for the helpers, I'm thinking that we who want to promote hope/the good/human flourishing look for the sowers; that we be on the lookout for whatever looks or feels like sowing seeds for the future. Who are the sowers in our midst? Who do you know that spends time doing “future-oriented” things? Planting seeds, literal or metaphorical? I started thinking about people I know or have read/heard about who are sowing seeds of various kinds.

My friend Shelly Barrick-Parsons runs a non-profit organization in Richmond, VA called Capital Trees where she both literally and metaphorically sows seeds. Their mission: “Cultivating Vibrant Public Greenspaces.” A former campus minister and church pastor, Shelly finds both joy and challenge in this work.

• Joys (in her words): “The variety of work. There is always time to get outside and get moving. The challenge with learning new content. I am not a trained environmental scientist, horticulturalist, or landscape designer, so it has been fun and energizing to learn about green infrastructure, native plants, and sustainable design and stewardship. It has taught me that I thrive in environments where I can continue learning and being curious.
  Tied to this is learning how important greenspace and tree canopy is for community connection. It is funny how this circles back to my first call -- we are in an epidemic of loneliness and anxiety -- we desperately need to connect with each other… When folks have access (ie 10 minute safe walk, or see out their window) greenspace and tree canopy, they feel safer, have a more positive view of their neighbors/community, are physically and mentally healthier, and less disconnected/lonely.”

• Challenges: “At times I struggle with the pressures to lead a successful and sustainable organization and limited vision on how that can look different than traditional models… Imagination is so important -- we struggle to see how we can do things differently ‘than how we’ve always done them’ or how the successful mega-nonprofit (or church) is doing it. It’s hard to be the person encouraging imagination and creative thinking, and anxiety derails this often.”

The sense of planting for a future she won't see doesn't always set in, though she mentioned that, “We are planting 8500 seedlings in a microforest installation at a local elementary school. We usually plant trees of a bit larger caliper (about 1 - 2”), and these larger trees look like trees and in about 10 years will really provide shade. In thinking about the seedling planting, I realized that I will not see these at maturity (50 years), and it was humbling… In this work, there is a constant tug between urgency and how long it will take for some solutions to have impact. For example, planting trees is great -- but the ecosystem benefits won’t fully be realized for decades.”

And yet, Shelly and Capital Trees keep on sowing…

My friend Hank Dyer is a long-time middle school counselor who, even as I know he looks forward to retirement and doing other things with his time, continues to plant seeds. I have been with him in years past when former students (whom he usually recognizes even after ten years or more) greeted him warmly out in public. And it has a lot to do with how he treated them as middle schoolers — as people; not fully mature or with expectations that they should be, but with clarity about how their choices affect them and others. When I asked him about how conscious he is about the work of sowing that he's doing, he said, “Everyday, every hallway, classroom, lunch table, stairwell, breezeway, bleacher, etc. is an opportunity to sow good and hopeful seeds. In fact, it’s my foundational purpose as a school counselor: make a positive difference in the culture and climate of the our school. Seeds sown, watered, and tended include valuing: education, critical thinking, kindness, self awareness, social contract, self worth, conflict resolution, investing in others, and on…” He also shared with me a photo of an “Appreciation Wall” (below) that one of the teachers at his school engaged students in creating for him recently. He expressed some surprise at the things students remembered him saying — many recalled serious, thought-provoking quotes, rather than the more humorous things he imagined they would. A few: “Use your power for good;” “Remember your purpose;” “Reach toward courage, discipline, justice and wisdom.”

A quote that features on his office wall:

“Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder. Help someone’s soul’s heal. Walk out of your house like a shepherd.” Rumi

He muses: “How often are the seeds accepted, received, enjoyed, appreciated by 12 and 13 yr olds? Ah. Not as much as I’d hope. Regardless, the hopeful ‘Johnny Appleseed’ impersonation continues.” The sowing persists…

I have previously shared some of Wendell Berry's thoughts on “the future,” though not this poem:

For the Future

Planting trees early in spring,
we make a place for birds to sing
in time to come. How do we know?
They are singing here now.
There is no other guarantee
that singing will ever be.

No guarantee… and yet, we plant anyway. There are no guarantees, even of tomorrow, for any of us or for all of us. The planting, the sowing is both a sign and a source of hope. The point of all this, I suppose, is that remembering the future can help us remember to sow seeds; not just those that will produce for us, but for those we will never meet. We help to create at least the possibility of a better future, of one in which human flourishing is more prevalent and human suffering, less. The shade of those future trees feels pretty nice, doesn’t it? 😉

Peace, Dana

1. From his book, “A Door Set Open,” p. 40ff.