FORETELLING THE FUTURE JULY 2026

I noticed a headline and found myself reading an article about digging a garden for victory in WWII. Fascinating as I find history, I am not a keen gardener. However, I have several friends who are and so keep an eye on gardening news highlights helps conversations with them. Why was I reading this article in particular? It was foretelling our future and encouraging us all to learn from the past and not rely on others to ensure the survival of the human race.

Our future is (according to the said article) one of severe food shortages due to increased military activity on a global scale. Our past was Governments preparing campaigns to ensure the food necessary to keep those involved in fighting those military campaigns were kept fit and healthy to carry on doing so. Hence, Digging for Victory to enable the civilian population would have enough to feed themselves and help towards the war effort. As rationing continued long after the war ended many continued this practice through until no longer fit enough to do so. The result, a generally longer lived generation. One that, in Britain at least, enjoyed gardening and had the skills to tend living things. Skills that are rarer in today’s world. Yes, of course there are keen gardeners nowadays, But flowers and exotic plantings appear to adorn most of the cultivated gardens I see around me. I am as guilty as any other person, as I only grow summer foods like lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber and runner beans in mine in two of the three raised beds. The third is flowers, of course!

My joy though comes in the strawberry tower and potato tub. I do so adore the first fruits of both each year. The hard graft of food production to feed a family is virtually an unknown in my part of the world. Even the “real” farmers are far fewer and further between in today’s world. Hence our total relance on other countries for our dietary needs. One that means in times of global crisis we fly into a panic when we see our supermarket shelves are no longer being re-stocked daily, or even regularly. By now you may be taken back to the period of COVID lockdowns of 2020. When your first thought after finding out that loo rolls were being rationed, was how are we going to feed the family if the shops have no food. “Jesus answered “Man shall not live by bread alone.” (Matthew Chapter 4 verse 4 NKJV.) A bible partial quote became scary when the thought of no wheat from the Ukraine meant no bread for the breakfast toast, sandwiches for packed lunches, pies, puddings or cakes, reality came crashing in. The second part of the biblical quote seemed far more apt. ” but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” This is usually followed by the word Selah. Roughly meaning think on this or mediate, dwell, spend time with this thought.

Add into this situation, which has resulted from man’s sheer greed, the huge volume of hybrid seed production which only creates one season of growth. Created solely to produce larger crops to feed more people globally to solve famine situations. What do we end up with? No vast quantity of original seeds that when dried can be stored carefully and give season after season of plants that will sustain us through the difficult times and do so for years to come. Seeds from plants that are and have been grown in the same areas successfully because they are tried and tested in those conditions and have survived to go on be fruitful. By now you will know that both renewable seeds are vital to sustaining humanity along with the skills to nurture and harvest the crops. What can we do to ensure that our own families will come through any future global turmoil to tell the tale is the question we should be asking.

It is a question which has no immediate answer. Time is what we need, even if we are lucky enough to get original seeds and plant them today. This is where I get to the good bit. The bit that gives us hope and reassurance. The second part of the quote. Yes, you can rush through the websites looking for seed suppliers and gardening equipment, dig up your lawn and plant a vegetable patch according to all those utube and gardening videos. A smart move is to acquire the skills to create a sustaining garden, balcony or row of pots on a windowsill. Every little will help, no matter how small. I know a better way. The bible shows us the better way. By faith in him we will be able to once more have hope in our future.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah ch..29 vs.11. NKJV

To know that he has a plan for us is a great comfort when the world comes crashing down around your ears. Not having to rely on your own strength to face such challenges is sheer relief. The certainty of knowing that God has got you ensures your survival, to tell the tales that so many books have been written about over the millennia (including my own – Allergic to Life). Maybe you will be the next one to do so!

If, having read so far and been awakened to the potentially dangerous path humankind is on, you want to do something to change your future, your family’s future and that of humankind. Start simply. Talk to God about it. Yes, he is listening, and wants to know what you want to do about it and make a few suggestions about a plan he has to help you have a future forever. I have boundless confidence that he’ll deal with the rest.