Trials Produce Compost?

The grass is always greener on the other side...

No really. The grass, is seriously, greener on the other side of the fence. Because of the height of our mansion... er 2 bedroom house.. whatever, I can see over our neighbors privacy fence. It was a sunny moment (in this incredibly rainy season) and you could see their beautiful green grass glow as the dogs skipped about in it, frolicking in the sum beams. Their empty patio swings were beckoning me.

Then reality would hit and I'd lean over my window sill, looking into my own yard. The trees smother almost any sunlight wanting to reach it. Full of mud, weeds, and sticks, my yard looks depressed. I told my husband that our yard reflected our hardships and the condition we are in now as those hardships leave us in their wake, ....depressing.

I do have a small garden plot that's in the corner of where the most sun can possibly hit within our yard. I say plot in the most literal sense. I have not successfully grown any food in it, as of yet. (this year will be the 4th attempt) This is not my area of expertise, but I do understand that it's healthiest (and cheapest) to grow your own garden. So... I keep trying, watching the glowing green coming through the cracks of the privacy fence year after year, while our trees only get bigger.

I was watching this very inspirational video on gardening called "Back to Eden" http://backtoedenfilm.com/
His concepts for gardening seemed almost too simple. Could it really be that the ground just needed a covering to protect the dirt, in which to grow such good plants? Paul Gautschi, the man with the method, kept bringing scripture into his explanations as to why it was working the way he was doing it. He shared his wisdom in the fact that his observation of nature taught him about how God designed the earth to flourish. He explained that dirt needs a covering, because left exposed, it gets too dry, or it gets too wet, and all this other stuff he's better at explaining. He was explaining the importance of a compost covering. I'll let you watch the video, it's a movie length documentary, but it's very insightful. So.. as I'm being encouraged, once again, to continue trying my hand at gardening, I'm thinking about how to get my hands on some mulch like substance. (sticks, leaves, bark, rocks, manure,   any compost really... )  

Once again, I'm looking out my window, into my back yard. The sun wasn't even out and the neighbor's yard was still glowing. Then I saw it. My. Whole. Yard. Is. Full. Of. Compost!!! Sticks everywhere, the stupid brush pile we've been meaning to get rid of, the decomposing leaves all over our patio, the dead straw-like stuff that I still don't know where exactly it comes from lines our unswept driveway! I totally saw this as God's provision, His wink, saying, "k-baby, here's what you need, now give Me your best and I'll take care of the rest."

I really didn't mean to rhyme just then, but it hit me so deep, because all these years I've been doing, what this Paul calls "traditional gardening", and it just wasn't working. (I can't say I ever gave it my best, but..... not my point) Now, all of the sudden, the glowing yard looked so empty to me. They had no compost, no garden, just grass... beautiful grass, but just grass. I wanted something more than just grass, I want to be able to grow food, flowers, whatever my shady yard will let me. And now, I feel like it's plausible because I have a plan that makes sense to me.

I don't write all this out because I want you all to know that I'm going for a successful garden this year... there's a deeper lesson here.

Near the beginning of this post I told you that I told my husband that our yard reflected our trials and what it's made of us. Just like all those trees in our yard, creating sticks and leaves and havoc, is like all those trials, building up over the years, that have left our family worn. But truly, it's those sticks and leaves and havoc that have provided what is needed to protect the ground. It's the trials that are truly God's way of providing for us to help grow and protect ourselves and that special something that He has in store for us. He has a will for us and even though things look so torn, what's really happening is His work in us. You dig in our yard and the soil is this rich dark beautiful color that smells so fresh, like a green house smell, because of that crazy looking compost everywhere.

Using the "Back to Eden" method, I started my garden over.... again... swept my patio and the driveway of the compost I needed. As I spread that compost over the beautiful dark dirt, I remembered God's promises to me.

He loves me. He will provide for me. and He has not forsaken me.

I'm not gonna promise my garden will truly succeed this year, but I'll give it my best, because He has not forsaken me.