My mind is like a field
Flowers of thoughts
I want to gather a bouquet
To place here on the table
There do not seem to be
Many thoughts for me
To pick from
The field isn’t blooming
So here’s a bundle of grass
And a fist full of dirt
I wrote that poem about two years ago.
Yesterday I went out into my yard and found a rose and a few dahlias and some cat mint, just a little of leftover summer to brighten my kitchen table on an overcast autumn day.
Progress. I didn’t settle for dried grass and dirt this year. I found flowers, even after a night where cold threatened to steal any remaining beauty.
There will always be beauty. I have gotten better at finding it. I have gotten better at cultivating it when the weather is good. I am not just rambling about the seasons of Ohio. I am articulating the seasons of the soul.
When the mornings greet me with sunshine and hope, I plant – fill my mind with whatever is true, lovely, right, pure, noble, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy (Philippians); I weed – taking every thought captive and making it obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5); I water what is growing in my soul with worship and praise and prayer. When the season changes, when it is harder to jump out of bed and greet the day; I see fruit that has grown and needs to be harvested and shared.
I beseech you. Do not settle for dried grass and dirt as I did. If you didn’t plant anything this year, there is grace for you. Here, let me share this fruit with you. Enjoy the nourishment and savor the sweet, then save the seeds and plant something beautiful for yourself and for others.
The best part. You don’t have to figure out how it will grow. It WILL. I know this because I share with you fruit that will last. The seed is the Word of God. The Son is the Light that makes it spring forth. Christ is the Living Water that keeps it fresh and fragrant.
Let your heart be good soil! When you feel the growth springing forth in your soul, take care of it. Protect it. And if you don’t know how, ask the One who does. He is a Great Gardener!