Aug 25 - Psalm 85:11

Faithfulness will spring up

from the ground,

and righteousness will

look down from the sky.

Psalm 85:11

It's hard to plant a garden in our back yard. The soil is not ideal. It's clay, and clay is not nutrient rich. Besides it's hard packed and hard to dig into. And in our backyard, lots of trees and lots of roots make the digging even harder. 

Therefore, we were intrigued when a friend suggested an alternative -- the world's simplest raised garden. 

·       Get bags of planting soil -- nutrient-rich soil and no weeds. 

·       Lay out a line of bags on the ground. 

·       Cut open the tops -- your planting soil. 

·       And make sure you have holes in the bottom of the bags so excess water and growing roots can escape. 

It was easy. And it worked. Like in Jesus' parable of the sower, good soil produces good growth. 

And that's what today's verse is about. 

Do you long for soil so rich that "faithfulness will spring up from the ground"? do you long for weather so favorable that "righteousness will look down from the sky"?

Our tendency sometimes is to yearn for that on a global or national scale. (Wouldn't it be great if our nation was more righteous and faithful?! Yes ...) But when Jesus tells the parable of the sower, he advises us to think in more personal terms. 

Is your heart hard-packed like a trampled-down path? Do you tolerate weeds and sins that choke out righteousness and faith? What are the rocks that get in the way of your discovering more blessing and growth? God IS raining down righteousness, but how can you and I expect faithfulness to take root and grow if we're not tilling the soil of your heart?

So the impetus is on you, right? If you want to see a greater harvest, you must act to create a richer soil in your heart, right? Well ... that's partly true. 

But remember, this is a prayer. It's asking for God to help produce the conditions for growth. 

As Americans, we try to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. We try to be masters of our own destiny. We forget that if we want to be good soil, we need first to humble our hearts and give God room to act. 

We're like bags of potential. We need to put ourselves in places of light. Cut open the tops and open our hearts. And create holes in the bottom so the excess can drain out and new roots can continue to grow. 

In Christ's Love,

a bag of potential who

needs a good gardener

to cut me open