Dust to Earth

                 One Saturday afternoon, we were showing our new home to our family.  We walked into the back yard when one of our adoptive sons said, “you need to do something with this backyard!”  I must admit, that it did look awful.   It was proof of many years of neglect by the previous owners.  The yard had been overtaken by weeds, fallen, and dying trees.

                As my husband, Kenneth, and I set out to correct the situation it caused us to take a closer look not only at the huge task in front of us but our own selves.  We, of course, knew it would have to be tackled an area at a time, but would take some time to reverse what had occurred over so many years.

                I grabbed the iron rake and began a tug of war with a large pack of weeds that simply refused to be removed without a serious fight.  I took several jabs and tugs and realized that I needed to kneel down and deal with the weed.  The Holy Spirit has a lesson for us in very unsuspecting places.  As I knelt down on the hard compacted dirt, I reflected on the thought that God created man from the dust of the earth.  Why dirt?  I thought.  He could have simply spoken us into being, I thought.  There I found myself kneeling dust to dust.

                My hands felt the coolness of the dirt.  It had become pliable in my hands.  It soften at the touch of these human hands and the coersion of the rake and trowel.  Wow, God knelt down in dust and took the time to form out of it an image, likeness of Himself.  Then into this dust, he breathe – the breath of life and man became a living, walking, and breathing reflection of His Creator.

                I then applied the spiritual principle to the natural. Our flesh becomes compacted with the cares of this life, church hurts, disappointment, betrayal of a spouse, and a lack of a relationship with God.  Nothing grows in a compacted soil well, except weeds. 

The Creator allows these trials and tests to prove us.  When we are pliable,    compassion moves us to become the solution to someones situation.  They act like a trowel or tiller that softens the soil so that what is planted can grow?  Often times I wondered how long God?  Why me Lord? and have I suffered enough?  In that compacted soil He wants to grow love, forgiveness, peace, and hope.

                The flower needs not only the sun to grow but also the rain.  I know I have wiggled and squirmed when the Holy Spirit endeavoured to dig deep,  trying to uproot the hidden things that hinder my walk with Him.  Those weeds, if  not uprooted, will cause bitterness, hatred, and negativity.  There roots prosper and like the natural weed the roots goes deep and are many.

                My five-year-old grandson, Calel, loves to bring me flowers.  While we were in the yard, he brought me a short-stem daisy-like yellow puffy flower.  I said to him, “this is a weed.”  He waited until I finished my explanation and presented the weed again.  It was something about his persistence that soften me.  The weed had turned into a flower.

                So I reflected on the day and I thanked the Holy Spirit for the hard situations,  like the dirt, can make us hard.  I thanked the Creator for His chastisement and prodding to resist evil and strive to be better and not bitter.  This enables us extend forgiveness, resulting in the acts of forgiving – it softens us.

                 Finally, I thanked Him for my grandson whose persistence made me realize that our Creator had even created the weed with purpose!