my crappy lawn and my sanctification

It started when a sub-contractor for the MDC came to replace the meter so they could take our money easier. The short story is that we had to have the water shut-off valve by the street replaced...this is another tale. 

They replaced my plot of weeds with what amounted to the "scrapple of lawn patches"ie the stuff that isn't really dirt.

I amended the mess with a higher quality of lawn scrapple, tossed down a high-end seed mixture in an attempt to fool myself, and watered it. Well, a few blades actually grew, bless their little chloroplast, but they were isolated in the wasteland.

This morning I went out to water my sandlot when I had a nudge to go to my composter  in my back yard and actually use the stuff I'd been making. Go figure.

This is when God started speaking, or rather I started listening.

I was shoveling dark, rich compost in my bucket and started to think about what God is doing in my life these days. God promised to make all things new, and he does it like a compost pile.

The Enthroned continued, 

“Look! I’m making everything new. 

                                                         Revelation 21:5

The new soil that God makes us into is the ground for this new life. The old soil won't cut it.  Notice how God says he not making all new things? He's taking our past and making it into his future. 

You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew,
    rebuild the foundations from out of your past.

                                                      Isaiah 58:12

We need to offer up our past to Him who can make it new in much the same way we use the discarded material for the compost pile. What happens if we leave the waste on the counter? It rots, attracts fruit flies and will get us in trouble with the rest of our housemates! But if we put the waste of our lives  into Christ, we end up with fertile ground for the rich thing of God to take root and grow. 

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? 

Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. 

I’ll show you how to take a real rest. 

Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. 

Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. 

I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. 

Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” 
                                                                          Matthew 11:28

Our lives are messy, just like making compost:

Our past gets changed in stages too and we need to work at it a bit. 

We need to turn things up the things that buried get air. Compost can die if it sits. Resentment can kill us.

...and it takes time. Lots of time. 

Some things turn into good things quicker than others. 
Don't force the change. 

So I ask, where are you in the compost of your sanctification? For me, I want to rush it. But God is teaching me to slow down. He has a plan. He is planting something new.  If you try to plant too soon, jump back in the pile for a bit. 

So I'm thankful this morning for my crappy lawn and my conversation with God

A final word;

Are you frustrated like me? Here is a little secret. 

A compost pile may look like nothing is happening but deep inside at the core is heat that is breaking the old down into the new. You can't see the heat, and most of the time is is buried deep in the pile but it is there. 

In you is the heat of the Holy Fire of God and it cannot be stopped. You will be made new. 

He promised. 

Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God.

 Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer. 

I find myself praying for you with a glad heart. 

I am so pleased that you have continued on in this with us, 

believing and proclaiming God’s Message, 

from the day you heard it right up to the present. 

There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind 

that the God who started this great work in you 

would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish 

on the very day Christ Jesus appears.
      Philippians 1-6