During our men’s bible study this morning we discussed the idea of soil. How the medium you put a seed into affects the viability of that seed. The seed can not be changed as to what it will become but what can be changed is the impact the outcome of the planted seed will have in its environment. I spent many years uncaring about the soil I was operating in and that had a profound impact. I slowly realized that life is a process, a journey from a beginning to an ending. There is little we can control as we progress on that journey, yet our environment, our surroundings, our choices, our efforts, our thoughts have untold impact on how we progress. As we talked through this idea of soil it struck me that we typically add supplements to the soil we plant things into, supplements that assist what is planted to mature and flourish.
For many years my wife and I have been on a journey to understand how what we put into our physical bodies affects our health. We have researched many systems and philosophies of how to live and breath and eat in this world. In the past few years we have landed on a theology of sustainability. We have made deliberate choices to eat certain foods and not others, to use certain supplements and not others, to practice certain disciplines and not others. At times these deliberate choices have brought ridicule and scorn and also curiosity and questions. We have committed resources to fulfill our deliberateness and we are seeing a clear impact in our lives. Part of this effort is tending to the soil we plant our ideas, our money, our time, our seeds into and what we use to augment that soil. At first I wanted a quick solution to this quest.
I had grown up in world that taught me not to wait but to take what I wanted. I had grown up in world that expected results quickly and efficiently. I had grown up in a world that wanted to short circuit the system to reach the goal faster, cheaper, leaner. There have been times I just wanted to quit, to stop, to give into the desire to get this thing done. There have been times I thought we were wasting our time and resources. You see the world had taught me that I needed a “miracle-gro” solution to this quest. I thought I needed to get there as fast as I could and the means would justify the end. One of the consistent outcomes for the “miracle” path was failure, failure in staying true to the goal, the standard, the process. The miracle path truly was enticing especially when the road was difficult. This morning I saw clearly the path that we have chosen was the only real choice for us. An idea took shape this morning about what I had used to augment my soil. The “miracle-gro” stuff had not given me the result I wanted, it had gotten down a road quickly but I was frustrated with the results. The quick trip and its result always seemed to fade and we would be back to just a few steps ahead of where we started. I realized what we had been doing all these years was planting in soil that was mingled with compost.
Compost is a deliberate act of creating something positive from waste. Compost takes time to develop, it takes care, it takes a deliberate focus on a goal. Compost needs to be tended and nurtured and fed, fed things we discard. Compost also comes with a definite smell and at times that smell is not pleasant. Compost is waste re-purposed, re-purposed in a way that gives life, gives energy, gives back. Taking the things that we discard and giving them a new identity, a new goal, a new purpose is a powerful picture of what our lives should be. Our lives should be a process of taking the spoils, the shit, the waste and giving it a new purpose. Our lives should be a mixture of soil and compost and that mixture should empower, and enliven what is planted into it. A seed planted in this mixture takes time to develop, longer than the quicker “miracle” growth. A seed planted in a bunch of dirt and re-purposed garbage is packed with potential. But it takes time, more time than we want to commit, more time than we think we have. Yet, that slower more deliberate path brings a stronger more sustainable product. So I think it comes down to patience and focus to make the hard choices, the hard committing of time and effort to get a stronger healthier result. I still have times I want the quick fix but then I have times like I did this morning and I realize that being patient and deliberate is worth the investment. Maybe that is the gift of this difficult time we are all living through, maybe that is exactly what we needed, maybe that is the picture we need to see as we push through this adversity. Maybe we all just need a little more compost and less miracle.