Something happened in our life this week that was just …… well…….manure to put it nicely. I would love to tell you that I reacted with a great heart and loving attitude about the situation but that is far from truth. The manure that was dumped upon us hurt someone that I love more than life itself. When they hurt, I hurt. To see them upset and doubting themselves when they should not be made me mad at the people that was causing this hurt.
The first day I spent the entire day so mad that I thought to myself over and over what I would say to the people causing the hurt if I talked to them. The next day I was still fuming but at the point where I was thinking a little more clearly and was able to just quietly mutter to God amidst my rage, “please help”. Then came the third fiery day and a little sweet girl came to me with the bible and asked if we could read it. I just opened it with no clue as to where I was going to read from and just started to read. God pointed out the story of Joseph who was not treated fairly by his brothers but God had a better plan for him. That story fit my needs exactly, through a 6 year old little girl that just wanted to read the bible.
It’s so easy when you fall into trials and land face first in manure to cry out for God to save us. But what will we learn from that? God didn’t save Joseph from his brother’s wrath but he took him to a totally different place where he had no choice to but change and overcome. How will we grow without these trials? If you think about it, there are hard times in our lives that are nothing but manure.
Matthew 13 talks about the parable of the sower. Jesus told a story about how a farmer will put seeds on different soils and only the good soil will produce growth. How do we get good soil? Now a days we have miracle gro potting soil, pinterest to tell us how to garden, and labs to test our soil to tell us the missing ingredients. But let’s go back to simpler times. If you were to ask your grandparents how to get good soil do you know what they would say? Simply add manure to it.
To get good soil you put manure on dirt and mix it in well. You have to turn it over and dig it down deep until it’s well mixed with the soil that once was perfectly content yet not as good as it could be. Manure is the best way, even today with all our fancy options, to get the best dirt for a garden. Manure is the guaranteed way to have the most extraordinary growth. Manure…. crap…. excrement…. how others treat you…. unfairness…. hurt…. pain….robbery of joy…. belittlement…. hate… strife….. It is all things that we want God to save us from but He wants us to learn how to overcome it because He has already saved us.
It hurts, stinks, and causes pain but the manure is beneficial to us if we use it to grow. Rather than sitting on it, closing up, and just waiting for it to end, let’s use it to grow.
So as a reminder to choose to look for growth rather than destruction, I made the printable at the top just for you. Right click and save it. Use it personally as you wish, just share the credit and love. This is not for commercial use. If you need a PDF or me to email it to you, just ask!
I’m sharing this link on Tidy Mom’s link party.
Hope everything is okay with you! I miss your posts. I’m guessing life is just busy, hope that’s the case!!
Thanks Lisa! We were just out of town. I just published a post that I wrote last night but crashed out before I could finish it. And then I’ve been too busy killing fruit flies this morning…..