(Written Mid-May)
Spring is finally here.
I'm not a big gardener, but I do like to plant spring flowers to decorate the front of my house. And so today I began to dig into the dirt and plant the pretty annuals that I bought. The longer I dug and sifted and mixed that healthy black soil, the filthier my hands got. The blacker my fingernails became, the more I began to think about dirt. What's in it, anyway? Just what was it that was lodged under my nails?
The dirt I was using was primarily top soil. A quick search on Google reveals that top soil is primarily organic matter and microorganisms*.
Wait. What? Isn't organic matter a nice term for rotting leaves? Animal waste? Decomposing insects, worms and other animal matter?
It only took about two seconds for me to connect the dots: I had decomposing worms and what the dog leaves in the yard under my nails! Yuk!
There truly is no way to do a good job of gardening, however, without getting your hands dirty. It's the nature of the thing. Plants need the organic matter to grow. The minerals in the decomposing plants and animals are what feeds the plants; and the plants, in turn, give us oxygen, food and visual pleasure. It's the way it is: No yukky stuff, no pretty plants!
It truly is nature's jewel of an example of what the bible means when it says that, "God has made everything beautiful for its own time." (Eccl. 3:11 NLT). It also helps us to understand why the Word of God says, "...God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them." (Rom. 8:28 NLT).
Not connecting the dots here?
Let me help: If God created the earth in such a way that it actually requires animal waste and decomposing plant and animal matter to ensure that plants grow, then we can be certain that whatever "dirt" we are going through right now is going to be used by God for His glory. And not only that, but we can be sure that when that "dirt" of our trials gets up under our fingernails, so to speak, we can trust Him to cleanse us emotionally, physically and spiritually. We can be convinced that in the end, we will understand why the Bible says, "We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation." (Romans 5:3-4 NLT)
Whatever it is you are going through right now...Remember that without dirtying your hands, beautiful flowers, vegetables and fruit can never grow. God has this. He will make everything beautiful, in His time!
In His love,
Lyn
Lynona Gordon Chaffart, Speech-Language Pathologist, mother of two, Author -- "Aboard God's Train -- A Journey With God Through the Valley of Cancer", Author and Moderator for The Nugget, a tri-weekly internet newsletter, and Scriptural Nuggets, a website devoted to Christian devotionals and inspirational poems, with Answers2Prayer Ministries. Follow Lyn on Twitter @lynchaffart.
*https://www.doityourself.com/stry/topsoil-facts-what-its-made-of
