Hi Everybody,
This is my first post in like 7 months so that's pretty exciting!
This spring as I thought about all of the things I wanted to do this summer all I could think of was reading. There are a million books that I've been wanting to read, but so far I haven't finished one of them. Instead, I've been gardening. Something I didn't think I would ever take part in, but now I'm hooked. As it turns out I know nothing about plants or gardening, but thanks to youtube we have already had 2 garden fresh salads, and the rest of our vegetable garden is flourishing! Now you may be asking yourself, "why is he telling me this?", and the reason is, that I've been learning/re-learning and understanding new pieces of the character of God and what it looks like to develop a character reflecting God while at work in my garden.
If you have ever spent time out in my yard, you know there are mass amounts of dirt spots. some are just wear and tear from the years that the house was inhabited but no one cared for the yard. While other spots of grass were destroyed by me and the previous tenants by leaving the shed door laying in the middle of the yard or random piles of leaves that sat through winter killing all the grass below. Now I'm working to fix the problems.
It takes a lot of time and work to prepare the ground for the new grass seed. I've been raking up pounds of dead grass and grass clippings. Tilling all the places I want new grass to grow. Planting the new seeds and then watering them to help them grow. It's a simple process, but that doesn't mean it's an easy one.
As I'm going through this process, I feel like I'm being reminded of what it takes for me to grow. I've been trying to use this same method in my walk as I do on my grass.
As I look at my current character I'm finding that I am covered in dead grass, grass that is blocking the Son and sucking the life out of my more healthy areas. So I have been working to first identify the sin, pain and anger in my life; then I stop and I pray that God will show me how to get rid of it, and slowly but surely I'm raking away all the dead grass in my life. From there I am preparing myself to grow new roots with new blades of grass. Spending my time reading scripture and praying for God to move in me, show me what it looks like to be healthy. Then you begin to see new grass sprouting up all over the place. Anger subsiding, pain fading and the patterns of sin becoming less of a pattern. The grass I plant, I'm hoping for a 50% growth rate, but the new life I'm creating feels like 100%.
I feel so gross using planting grass as a metaphor for spiritual growth, so lame. But it has been good for me, and the truth is, we are all being called into new growth. When we stop growing it seems that we are doing one of two things: assuming perfection or giving up. If you have stopped growing because you think you are good enough or perfect, trust me you aren't. I encourage you to go to your friends or people that care about you and ask them, "Where am I failing to see/experience/live for Christ?" Then grow some more, and remember if you find yourself drawing comparisons between you and the people around you, pride or judgment might be a great place to start. If you on the other hand are struggling to push forward I encourage you to turn to your friends and talk to them about your struggles, if you don't have those kind of friends, find some new friends. If you are giving up because there's just no hope for you, come look at my yard, trust me there is hope!
Hope this didn't suck,
WIT
-J
