Our Weekly Tip: Seeds of Solace – A Twist on Tradition

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Our Tip of the Week: When friends and extended family come to pay respect to the departed, they often arrive at the service bearing flowers. While this is a thoughtful gesture, both a nod to tradition and a lovely gift, flowers quickly dry up, hard pressed to offer lasting comfort to the bereaved. In fact, with their cumbersome arrangements and messy petals, flowers could be considered one more logistical detail for family members to stress over and be preoccupied by in their time of grief. Perhaps this is why more and more funerals feature a request of: “No flowers please.” But in lieu of flowers, what’s a well-meaning mourner to do?

How about seeds? A lovely alternate to gaudy bouquets is a slim, space-efficient envelope of seeds, perhaps tucked in next to a heartfelt letter detailing all the ways in which the departed made the world a more beautiful place. Seeds are far easier to gather up and transport than flowers, but their significance runs deeper than that. Seeds are tiny, granular reminders of growth of a process that requires patience, tenderness and care. Seeds are slow, as healing can be, but powerful and steadfast. They provide a metaphor that could very well resonate with grieving loved ones.

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How-to Suggestion: Gardening can be a meditative, nearly spiritual endeavor, and while loved ones plant their seeds of remembrance, they can reflect on their departed beloved, fashioning a garden in their honor. This garden, whether confined to a simple pot or an entire backyard, can provide a sanctuary, a place to retreat to when grief feels overwhelming. Present in the sprouts and shoots, and eventually the emerging blossoms, will be the well wishes of loved ones who paid their respects, as well as the memory of the one who has passed on. Together, these presences will provide an ever-growing, earthy cradle for grief and the promise of life anew.