This week I've been thinking about dirt. Some of that is because I ride my bike every day through the sweat and smog of the city streets. Some of that is because I've been doing some gardening. This week flew by, leaving me scratching my head after it was over, wondering where all the time went.
I think there's two ways of thinking about dirt:
The first is to brush it out of the way, to view it as an obstacle to our goals. We want things to be neat and clean. Dirt is the opposite of that. It gets under your nails, it smells like rotting things, it stains your clothes. We sweep, vacuum, or mop it up. We scrub it away. Even the dirt outside can be viewed as a negative thing. In a garden, after a long winter, the dirt is hard and dry. If the grass has been trampled away, we plant grass. Dirt is an eyesore. This is the way a housekeeper views the dirt. Their job is to maintain and manage.
The second way is to see the dirt as potential. This is the way gardeners see the dirt. When a gardener sees a bare spot of soil, they see the future fruit. They grab a shovel and go to work. They break up the hard ground, turn it over, replenish the nutrients with rich compost. When the ground is adequately worked, they plant seeds, digging their fingers down into the soil. Watering, weeding, and waiting. The gardener works to create the necessary environment to produce fruit. The sun and the rain do the the rest of the work.
Every day, we are confronted with the choice to see the dirt as either a Housekeeper or a Gardener. Each moment, we can choose to either leave the ground hard or to get down and dirty up our hands.
An internship is a chance to make that choice. I pray that God gives me the grit and determination to work the soil. I pray that the Holy Spirit will send fresh rains of spiritual revitalization in this neighborhood, city, and nation. Will you pray alongside me?
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