Cultivate – it means to work land or prepare soil for growing crops. And it is the word we’ve chosen to rally around as our theme and prayer for this year.

It seems appropriate then that on the day we start this year of cultivating God’s seeds of love, that we begin in the Garden of Eden where God plants his seeds of promise for life, purpose, and love in the world. For in this story of creation we hear once more why God has given us life and what purpose he has for all of us! But as we join Adam in the garden, the question he faced is the same one we still struggle with: Will we make room for his seeds of promise to grow in us?