Planting Seeds, Living Hope: A Reflection for the Season

Auditory by Annie Makin: Planting Seeds, Living Hope. From: Seeds of Hope for Love of Life Poetry Book

I wanted to share a poem: Planting Seeds, Living Hope: with you from the Seeds of Hope for Love of Life poetry book. If you would like a little more light during this season, I have made my poetry book, Seeds of Hope: For Love of Life, available for $0.99 right now. use Code: BlackFriday2025 and receive your copy of PDF Japanese Landscape edition.

I understand this season is often described as a season of joy and giving. Yet for many families, it can also be one of the most stressful times of the year. The pressure to keep up with consumerism and purchase all the products, materials, and gifts can weigh heavily on the heart and the wallet.

You absolutely do not have to do any of that. While you may hear me say Happy Thanksgiving or Happy Holidays, the truth is that my family and I do not personally celebrate. This is not a stance against those who do. Rather, our belief is that joy, peace, and generosity should be lived out all year long. We strive to give throughout the year, to love throughout the year, and to touch someone else’s life through consistent care, not just during a designated season.

We do celebrate our children’s birthdays, but even then, we do not make them wait all year for one moment to feel valued. If we have it, if it is reasonable, and if they ask, we give. Because they are worthy. Because their worth is not tied to a single day marked on a calendar.

As I write this, it makes me wonder: who were these holidays really made for? If you take time to research the history of the holidays we celebrate, you might discover that many of them are rooted in origins far different from what we were taught.

• So why have these traditions continued into modern times? Who benefits from them?

  
  

I assure you, wealthy families are not withholding every dollar over their children's heads. They are not requiring them to wait for a birthday or holiday to receive something meaningful. It mirrors the way many of us treat weekly allowances.

• And it raises the question: what are we teaching our children?

• Or are we avoiding honesty about our own financial limitations?

In our home, we shifted the way we say no. Instead of saying no because “you didn’t do this right,” or tying every request to chores or performance, we say, “

It’s just not in our budget right now.” Not because they don’t deserve it. Not because they didn’t earn it. Simply because finances have limits. This is a far healthier message than implying a child must meet a standard of perfection before they are worthy of something good.

Our children are valuable. They did not ask to be brought into this world. They are not robots. Many of us, especially those who grew up with parents shaped by the industrial age, were raised to believe that constant work is the highest virtue. But do we want to pass that same mentality to our children? Do we want them to reduce their gifts, abilities, and potential down to a twenty-dollar allowance? Do we want to condition them to accept less than their value when they enter the workforce?

I believe this pattern sets children up for lower expectations as adults. It does not teach them the true worth of their time or talents. Some children may indeed be gifted in domestic tasks. That is wonderful, and those strengths should be nurtured. But if you truly observe your child in their most important developmental stages and see they are gifted in technology, art, gaming, building, gardening, or any other area, and then you force them to reduce those gifts to chores alone, you are training them to shrink their potential.

Or as my son says, “Mom, those are NPCs…”

I am not saying that asking your child to help around the house is wrong. What I am speaking to is the pattern of treating them like household workers whose every benefit must be earned through service. Tying every special moment or item to whether they completed a task can damage how they view their worth.

I say this from experience. I have two adult children, and I did this with them when they were young. If I had the wisdom then that I have now, I would not have approached it the same way. I would have been honest and simply told them,

“It is not in our budget right now,” rather than linking everything to behavior or chores.

Many families are struggling right now. Many are stretching themselves thin trying to meet expectations that were never meant for them in the first place. As you go through this season, I hope you remember that generosity is not defined by gifts or decorations. Love is not measured by what you buy. Your worth, and the worth of your children, does not come from consumerism.

It comes from who you are. It comes from the way you show up throughout the year. It comes from the seeds you plant in ordinary moments, the love you give freely, and the hope you nurture in the quiet places.

I hope you enjoyed the Planting Seeds, Living Hope poem. It is one of many poems that carried me through some of the darkest times in my life.

May it plant a seed in you too.

Lovingly Me,

Annie Marie