Her neighbor gifted her a seed once.

Her neighbor gifted her a seed once. Confused why she would receive such a gift, she put it in a dark drawer. Discarded and devoid of light and water, the seed sat there only to be forgotten. Each day as she walked into town, she noticed her neighbors chatting and strangely watering the ground. “What a waste of time,” she thought. Weeks go by and she sees more and more neighbors coming out to chat and water the ground. “What a waste of time,” she thought, looking at the clumpy wet soil. Months go by and she sees her neighbors gathering, for what, she can’t quite tell. One neighbor calls out for her to join them, but she waves and keeps on her way, calling out, “I’m too busy, no time to waste!” Years went on and so much changed, but she remained the same.

What she hadn’t seen that day was the start of something special. She was not the only neighbor gifted a seed. As she carried on with her busy life, gardens grew and neighbors gathered, forming deep strong roots. The gardens weathered seasons just as the neighbors did, and grew just as their families did. As the flowers, fruits, and vegetables decorated the neighborhood, each household offered to share their blessings. She never had anything to offer back, so she never accepted the gifts.

One day, looking at her own empty yard, she wondered why hers was so different. There was always so much to do in life, how could she have possibly been able to keep up with a garden on her own? And how would she start? These questions rattled in her mind as she reflected on years past. Then it came to her. That one little gift. She went to the drawer to find the lonely seed, exactly where she left it. She looked down at the seed and finally understood. “How could I have wasted all this time?”?

This day, she did not make it into town. Instead, she visited the neighbor that gifted her the seed. “Please, will you help me plant this seed?” She asked. The neighbor took her hand and said “Of course, but that’s not all you’ll need.” One neighbor’s soil, another’s tools, a few extra seeds, and plenty of helpful hands. By the end of the day, she had learned more names than she could remember. Laughs were had, stories were shared, and she finally had clumpy wet soil of her own. Slightly underwhelmed, she was still disappointed that her garden paled in comparison to others. She asked a neighbor, “What now?”

The neighbor smiled. “Tend to it. That is the only way to help it grow and keep it safe.”

It was at this point that she realized the garden was not just a garden. It was community. What a gift it was to receive this support, it must be reciprocated with care even as one tends to their own life. The blessings went beyond food and florals, the blessings were the people behind them. She nurtured her garden and roots began to grow. With labor, came fruits, which she eagerly shared with her neighbors. The neighbor was right, a single seed was not the only thing she'd need. She finally saw what had blossomed around her, no longer distracted by her busy life. Instead of seeing "wastes" of time, she saw what it was like to thrive.