Rocky Soil

So I haven't blogged in awhile as I am not the resident writer in our family. However, I thought I would try to pick it up again as a way to get some of the thoughts from my head onto paper. Well, not really paper, but you know what I mean.

We recently moved back to Springfield to finish this itineration process we are in, and we have been working outside on some landscaping projects. Good summer activity, I guess. Anyway, we had to remove some dead bushes in the front of the house and as we did this, a few things were made abundantly clear.

1. The bushes were still green on the top and looked fairly decent, but under the top layer, everything was dead. Whether it was a bug, or some type of disease, we are not sure. It made me think. How many times are we and those around us looking good on the outside, but underneath not quite as healthy? It was a reminder for me to look at myself and see what areas in my heart were growing brown and needing pruning. We found that underneath there were 3 plants, but due to lack of care and pruning they that had grown out of control. This had aided the death process along due to the lack of light and crowded space. Another reminder that regular pruning is healthy and needed.

2. After we had removed the bushes, we found that there had been many landscape rocks and because this is Missouri many natural rocks in the soil. Before we can plant grass seed in this space, we have to remove these rocks. As we were "picking rocks" I asked Chase about the parable of the sower. He was aware of the story and helped remind me what the rocky soil meant. As we talked we thought about how Jesus said that His Word is the seed. The rocky soil is like those who hear, but because of a lack of roots, when trouble comes they don't last long.

I thought about this in my present life. What are the rocks that are hindering the growth of God's Word in my life? What trial am I allowing to interfere with my roots setting firm in the soil?

You can learn a lot from working outside. I believe God gives us moments like these to draw us closer to Him.

Thanks for listening to my mumblings . . . maybe next time there won't be such a gap in time between them.