CHAPLAIN'S BLOG: Planting seeds of care and help

The children again were impeccably behaved, sang beautifully and were a credit to their school. And I spoke about seeds growing and showed them Cyril the Carrot – one of my own carrots grown from seed and now, at least as long as my index finger.

But then I spoke about other seeds we can plant. Seeds that are so small that we can’t see them but seeds that make a huge difference.

So we talked about planting seeds of kindness and care and happiness. I said that if you planted a seed of happiness and smiled at someone, then they would smile back.

And if you helped someone, they will be more willing to help the next person. And care and helping make a difference to everyone.

“Ah just kid’s stuff!” some will say.

But don’t forget that children often make the best sense of the world. If you can’t learn something from a child then you are the poorer for it.

READ MORE: Tonnes of food donated to food bank at Autumn Show

And, of course, the children had brought in their Harvest produce which was destined for the Worcester Food Bank.

I was really pleased to meet Martin from the food bank. He volunteers his time to make sure that people in food poverty will get meals provided by the good people of Worcester.

Afterwards, he and I got talking, inevitably, about politics: Brexit; the Prime Minister and the like. Both of us were poles apart on party politics. But both of us saw the need for care and compassion.

It showed me that in this divided and, dare I say broken, political system, there are those who want to see the growth of compassion and kindness.

There are people out there, hopefully the majority of us, who are planning seeds of happiness and care and help.

Sometimes these seeds lie dormant in the ground for a while. But my hope is that they will sprout into green shoots; be nurtured; continue to grow and make a difference to those around – particularly those in need. Now that is a harvest worth gathering in.