Play'n in the Dirt Again...

It's spring. I can feel it to the literal sense of "feeling it in my bones." I'm antsy, I'm pacing and I can't stand being inside the house. I "need" to play in the dirt again. There's something about putting my hands in the soil. It never fails to renew in me the magnificence of nature and God's creation. It's healing to the soul...simply put.

So...

It's garden time. In a few days we will see the familiar sight of Daddy on his red tractor turning up the field. We'll smell the scent of the wild onions, the scent of fresh turned soil and experience spring at it's best.

To plant a garden, that will bear fruit, first the soil has to be turned. There's a reason for turning the ground upside down. The process takes the grass and the weeds (things one definitely doesn't want in the garden) and turns them upside down and inside out, leaving the scraggly roots sticking up and around like tiny twigs in the dirt. Now, the root, in my opinion, most of the time is the ugliest part of a plant. Anyway, by exposing the roots to the sun, the gardener kills the plant. A couple of days later, the tilling happens all over again, or it will if the gardener knows what he is doing. Mixed in with the second tilling, around here often comes the unmistable aroma of manure...Dad is famous for that! And we are just as famous for letting it be known we pray for a south-westerly wind, to blow across Mom and Dad's side, not ours :) Now, comes the back breaking work; getting the weeds out of the soil. It's a matter of shake, rattle and throw. Time consuming, but still, it has to be done. Finally, when the dirt is fine and crumbles through the fingers, the gardener knows he has earth he can work with. And we are blessed. The dirt here is dark and rich, great for a garden! So, hoe the row, drop the seed, scatter the fertlizer...Mark the rows, and wait. Wait, for the seeds that were planted to sprout and stick their heads out of the ground. Green shoots that will produce food that will go on all of our tables for the next few months.

I feel like that's what God sometimes has to do with me. Till me, turn me, and get the ugly upside down, while the Son looks on and cultivates out, what isn't fruit producing. Shake me, rattle me, and throw the useless parts away, so that hopefully, what's left, will yield more to His will, and produce something that will be used for Him.

For now..I'm heading to Lavender Mtn to get a fix...