This past year has been an especially difficult one for me, and for nearly everyone I know. With war still raging in Iraq, and violence and hatred seemingly rampant throughout the world, it's hard to believe the days could get much darker. After such a bitter winter, spring will be especially welcome.

I pray that the growing light coaxes the fragile buds of peace and compassion to break triumpantly free from frozen hearts, and that by summer our gardens are a profusion of fragant promise. Perhaps by next winter, we will have learned how to keep each other warm through the night rather than stealing each other's firewood, and in the process, burning our own houses down.

It takes just the tiniest bit of effort and cooperation to turn a garbage dump into a community garden that will feed the entire neighborhood. We need never again face such a bleak and hungry winter if we tend the garden well, and with the growing warmth, share the fruits of our love.