day thirty-three: harvest(ing) hope

Hope can be difficult to cultivate. It's a delicate crop, one that's easily killed by frosty desperation or scorching fear. But the agency we donated to today has found a way to not only plant seeds of hope, but also to have those seeds grow...even to the point of cultivating the crop.

Jesus is the King of Kings, then Harvest Hope is the Food Pantry of Food Pantries. It is a food distribution center that helps stock food pantries of other organizations (e.g. United Ministries, the kitchen at the Rescue Mission, etc.).

And despite the name of the place, it doesn't seem very "organic" to drop off a box of food, and much less at a warehouse. When I did this morning, it felt so much like a transaction.

But maybe a box of Cheerios or a can of tuna could be a seed of hope for someone. After all, by the time a crop is ready to harvest, a lot has happened and it usually doesn't resemble the seed that was first planted - the seed has to germinate, take root, a shoot has to grow, then the crop has to bud and bear fruit.

As I dropped off this food, I thought of all it would go through: From the warehouse to different food pantries, then eventually to someone's home (or maybe to a homeless person's tent). Still, at the end of the process, maybe someone will be able to harvest a bit of hope from the seed we planted today.

The baby is ready to get this stuff out of the car...

They had me pull up to a loading dock...overkill for the two boxes of food we donated.

Finally! My car is empty! No more canned goods or water bottles!