Skip to main content

Dirt and Deep thoughts

Some people hear God at church. Others, while reading the bible and praying. Some meditate. I have a friend who said he heard God best while sky diving. God is cool like that. You don't have to sit in a pew to hear his wisdom. Today, Him and I hung out while I was in the dirt.

We moved into this house at the end of last summer. We busted our hind ends to get painting, carpet, hardwood, etc....all done before we moved in. And then there was school. And a new company. And a new job and new classes to both teach and take. Something had to give and that thing happened to be our yard.

Matt is not a yard work guy. He pretty much hates it. Lucky for us, it was the end of the growing season so we could neglect our landscaping (or lack there of) without too much chaos over-taking anything. As things started to green up this summer, we got to see how truly "in the weeds" we really were.

First I tackled my garden. 3 new garden boxes built, weed cloth, mulch, path stones and a little bit of fencing made my garden something I could be proud of. I planted a few pots of flowers. We ranked. Matt mowed.

And then there were the bushes.

Sadly enough, we couldn't even really tell if they were alive. Now, mid-June, they are green-ish. So today, I tackled the bushes. If it wasn't green, it got cut. If it was green but growing the wrong way, it got cut. If it needed to be thinned, it got cut. I have a huge pile of cuttings in my yard.

As I cut and pulled and shaped and pruned my mind wandered. I can see how gardens are accurate metaphors for life and God and I had a nice little chat.

Take my rose bush. First, there was all the dead stuff that needed to be cut out. It seems obvious we need to remove things that don't grow from our life, but it still hurt to grab the thorny branches to cut them out. And then there was the one branch with a little rose on it, I was tempted to let it be. The problem is it was growing in the wrong direction. It was growing away from the trellis and if I had left it, it would have grown larger and pulled the whole bush the wrong way. Life is like that some time. Things that are "good" are not always "best" and eventually get us moving in a way that isn't healthy. 

The branch also hung close to the swing that my children love. Roses are thorny and could give you quite the scratch if you ran into it. The rose bush has to share its space with a bunch of other things, just like we do. Sometimes the things that are good or easy for us can really cause problems for those we have to live with.

My lilac bush was in just as bad of shape. Full of dead branches underneath that kept it from being able to grow in a healthy way, even though from the outside it looks really green and healthy. We can be like that too, looking like we have it all together on the outside when underneath we have all kinds of things we have not cleared out. Resentment, frustrations at life not going the way we planned, anger, hurt, and pride. All of this makes us stagnant and keeps us from being the beautiful things we could be. 

The top of my bush is very tall, I am going to have to wait for some assistants before I can trim it. That happens in my life, too. Somethings are just to big for me to deal with by myself, I have to ask for help if I really want to be healthy.

I came in from the yard dirty and sweaty, scratched up and tired but somehow my soul just felt refreshed. God is cool with hanging out with us while we are working in the dirt. He is good like that.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Working on my Domestic Goddess Badge

I looked at the to-do list I made last week and am happy to say I can cross off almost everything on it. It only took me 2 weeks. I think I either need smaller lists or more time. Here is what I have been up to: -I have made 2 loaves of banana oat bread, 1 batch of blackberry strawberry freezer jam, 1 loaf of gluten free bread. -From 12 juiced grapefruit I made grapefruit curd and a pan of grapefruit bars. -My garden is almost completely done, including a upgrade in size. I am growing tomatoes, onions, peppers, potatoes , cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower , herbs, lettuce, spinach , green beans, snap peas, cucumbers, and kohlrabi. -I hung herbs to dry -I have folded massive amounts of laundry...with more yet to do. All washed with my homemade laundry soap. -I recovered the "green monster" which is another post entirely. -I added a sitting area in my bedroom, where I am currently sitting, so that my laptop has a home other than the kitchen table. - I got a new dining room table a...
23 comments
Read more

Blogging

So I have lost the love of blogging. I have always believed it is a narcissistic pass time, yet enjoy it anyway. I have found I easily spend entirely too much time tied to my computer. By the time I check Facebook , e-mail, friends blogs, etc I can easily waste an hour, if not two, of time. A friend of mine just blogged about the same thing. Yes, I get the irony of a blog post about not blog posting, but alas, here it is: I just read a good friends blog about my blog. A great leader here in Boulder, Kevin Colon wrote this: “Hugh moved to Denver to do a training deal for an organization and he ended up starting a church. His blogging is not incredibly frequent but when he does blog….it’s good!” Now, while I’m humbled that a man like Kevin would even want to read my blog, I figured it was a good time to state once and for all why I only post once or twice a month. Simply this……..”I prefer to spend my time with people.” I’ ve always wondered how people have time to read blogs, let alo...
15 comments
Read more

Preschool

I have a fabulous group of mommy friends, most with children within a few months in age of mine. I love them dearly. We talk about all kinds of things; parenting, our spouses, choices we make for our families. We don't all do things the same and I think that is great, I learn a lot from these Godly women in my life. As of late, the topic has been preschool. A few of us considered co-oping a preschool for our children and others felt lead to do things a little more traditionally. We ended up deciding not to do the co-op. Spread sheets were made, schools compared and now everyone is signed up for preschool for the beginning of next school year. Everyone but Eliana. We are not doing preschool next year, or maybe even ever. I have given this a lot of thought, and this is what I have come up with. These are our reasons, I don't expect my friends to make the same choice for their family. 1- I like Elie. I know other people like there kids too. I just don't feel the need to get ri...
7 comments
Read more