I'm a dirty old man (it's not what you think)

“Study this story of the farmer planting seed. 

When anyone hears news of the kingdom and doesn’t take it in, 

it just remains on the surface, 

and so the Evil One comes along and plucks it
right out of that person’s heart. 

This is the seed the farmer scatters on the road.

“The seed cast in the gravel—

this is the person who hears and instantly

 responds with enthusiasm. 

But there is no soil of character, 

and so when the emotions wear off 

and some difficulty arrives, 

there is nothing to show for it.

“The seed cast in the weeds is the person who hears the kingdom news, but weeds of worry and illusions about getting more 

and wanting everything under the sun strangle what was heard, 

and nothing comes of it.

“The seed cast on good earth is the person who hears and takes in the News, 

and then produces a harvest beyond his wildest dreams.”

                                                                                                  Matthew 13:18-23 (Message translation)

I've been gardening for some years now. Like a Hobbit I have a passion for things that grow. I also have hairy toes but that is not the point. 

I love to watch God do his thing and his thing is this:

growth. steady.unstoppable.growth. 

I've been watching God do this in my life. Slowly, steadily, for many years the seed God planted in my heart has taken root. 

At times what was sown has felt like a cedar growing in the wind-swept crack of the highest precipice. Buffeted, exposed. Worn and twisted from the elemental forces.

Other seasons I have felt like a bed of cool moss hidden in the Old Growth Forests of the Pacific Northwest. Thick and wet and full. Hidden and indwelling.

I have been through many season in this garden. 

Today, this day, I am alive and well and growing. 

 What I shall be season from season is known only to God and so I trust. 

The Master Gardener is making his masterpiece. 

I will do my best to not resist the work. I am being crafted by Glory for Glory.

...so this is what I have found. 

I once was refuse.  

God's grace composted into good soil. 

I am old. I am a man. I am dirt. 

By his loving work.