Sometimes things work out. And sometimes they don’t.

Sometimes the sun shines brightly. And sometimes it doesn’t.

Sometimes we feel confident in our work. And sometimes we’re unsure.

Sometimes we feel like a ball of anxiety. And sometimes we’re as relaxed as a Koala bear on its fourth nap of the day.

Sometimes we plant seeds, and nothing happens. Other times we plant seeds and end up with eight pumpkin plants, eight tiny corn stalks, eight cucumber plants, seven snap pea plants, 16 carrot seedlings, 10 eggplant seedlings, 13 tomato seedlings, eight watermelon seedlings, seven cantaloupe seedlings, and more flower seedlings than you can count.

If the last example seems overly specific, it is. That’s my current situation. Each year, my kids and I plant a bunch of seeds and usually end up with one or two types of seedlings at best. This year, we’ve ended up with more than our garden can handle. When the danger of last frost is behind us, I may go door to door to my neighbors and see who wants what. That’ll be a nice way to spread some neighborly love and to keep our little plants growing and producing.

Feast or Famine

I used to think of the concept of feast or famine in a negative sense. We either have it all or have nothing. How inconvenient. If we have too much, we squander. And if we don’t have enough, we grow weak, or envious, or bitter, or covetous. But I think the concept needs to be taken out of the selfish sense:

If we have too much, we need to learn to share what we have with others. And if we don’t have enough, we need to be brave enough to ask for it from others. The only way we survive is together.

I think the concept of feast or famine was put here to teach us those lessons. Now that I’ve learned the hard part of the lesson – asking for help when I need it – I’m ready for the fun part – sharing what I have with others.

Sometimes we think we have too many seeds. But there’s really no such thing.