Good Soil

The first light of dawn found me wandering through our gardening bed still in my jammies and with coffee cup in hand. Every morning I can't wait to get out there to see the tender little seedlings making progress; becoming full fledged veggie plants. We live on top of a hill and, for gardening purposes, that means we have to haul in garden soil and create raised beds. We are sitting on a big rock and it keeps making baby rocks like there is no tomorrow.....raised beds, it is!

Looking over the bed, you'll see some plants are doing very well while others are looking rather pitiful. What makes the difference? They came from the same seed packet, started in the same flat, received the same water, sunlight, fertilizer, planted in the same soil and get the same amount of attention. What makes the difference? I'm not talking about comparing different varieties, lets talk about just the tomatoes for instance. What makes one tomato plant thrive and look so healthy while 2 plants over there is one that looks like it's gasping for air? Oh, the sad one is growing but it isn't thriving. It may provide us with tomatoes for a meal or two but it certainly isn't all it could be.

Then, there are the plants that shot up in the starter flats but, having the faced the reality of life in the ground, have shriveled up & died. What makes the difference?

We're like that, you know, we Christians. We're all given the same opportunity to know and thrive serving God; to seek Him and truly make Him Lord of our lives. We all are given the same access to Bibles; some read them and some don't. We live in a country where we have the freedom to attend any church we want and worship, at least most Christians do. Some live in countries where they have to meet after dark in the shadows behind closed doors and curtains or face prison and torture. Most of us, however, do have that freedom and privilege and yet many come up with ten different reasons every Sunday morning why they aren't going to church....any church.

Some Christians, like Monday morning quarterbacks, have all the answers about what everyone else is doing wrong. They may not attend a church but they know what's wrong with churches. Some use other people as their reason; flawed people using other flawed people as their reason for not attending. Others, like the familiar quote, blossom where they are planted and become true servants of the Lord serving their churches and communities. What makes the difference? Same opportunities, same soil, same God...what makes the difference? I could get all theological and spell out a few theories and philosophies, but it's really very simple.

Unlike our friends the seeds, we have a choice. We can choose to soak up God as we open our hearts and lives to Him and His will. OR we can choose to live acknowledging Christ as Lord with our words but not our lives; we'll grow some but we won't thrive. OR we can and will shrivel up and die without the Living Water that is Christ. As for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord!

Wishing you rich soil, gentle rains and sunny days.....