Farm Livin’ Wisdom

I grew up on an idyllic little plot of land outside of Houston, Texas. Farm Livin’. An only child, I was my mother’s steady companion while she mowed all 35 acres or my father’s little helper when he shoveled the *ahem* manure for the horses. We had trails for riding horseback, a little orchard grove of fruit trees, and about an acre of vegetables growing.

Occasionally, I would help my father move the fertilizer from the heap next to the stables all the way across the property to the vegetable patch. And then we’d spread it around. By hand.

I’m going to be real with you. I have shoveled some $h!t in my lifetime. Literally and figuratively. And it stinks. It’s dirty. It can be just downright awful. I’ve shoveled in my marriage. I’ve shoveled with my kids. And I’ve had the good pleasure of shoveling with friends, family, neighbors, and hundreds of people we’ve ministered to and with.

But this morning as it was raining…no…pouring outside while I applied my mascara, I thought to myself, “Dang! All this rain and I forgot to lay down some fertilizer!”

And I had a brilliant thought.

From crappy seasons in life and rainy days beautiful things can grow. From the toughest times in my life and the darkest hours I now see fruit. Strength. Grit. Fortitude. I would never have chosen to walk through that crap, but since I have and because we’ve lived to tell the tale, let me tell you, God can make great things from our worst moments in life.

[bctt tweet=”From crappy seasons & rainy days beautiful things grow. “]

Be encouraged. If you’re shoveling in your life, if you’re struggling in your walk today…God will eventually make something amazing grow through the “fertilizer” and the rain.