Mornings are the start of a new day, at least once I get pass getting out of bed with the initial stiffness of my body. But once I’m up I sometimes go outside on my back porch and inhale a large amount of fresh clean air. You know, one of those cleansing deep breaths that fires you up for the day.
Recently I did my morning inhale and about gagged. PEW WEE!! Oh man, the air smelled like manure. Shoot! I thought. Is it my septic tank? I investigated and was reassured that it wasn’t mine but maybe it was someone else’s.
Throughout the day the stink just hung out and I was forced to endure the smell as I did stuff outside. I came close to putting a clothes pin on my nose, that’s how bad it was! It wasn’t until later that day when I was leaving my house, I noticed that my neighboring farmer was doing something to his field.
Yup, he was fertilizing his plants. Someone was driving a truck with a huge spreader on the back of the bed spraying out manure of some sort. YUCK! No wonder it stunk.
I sat in my car watching the process then a thought came to me, how many times have I felt like a truck load of manure had been dumped on me leaving me dirty and stinky. Well, not in the real sense of the brown stuff but the yucky life stuff. You know like divorce, stress and anxiety, loss of a love one, financial worries, hurt from painful or hateful words, broken promises and the list goes on and on.
Each time I hit one of these lows in my life I feel like I’m digging my way out of the crap and hoping that someone has a shovel to help me out.
Have you ever shoveled fertilizer on a garden? It’s a stinky, dirty process. The soil doesn’t always provide all the essential nutrients required for optimum growth, so we supplement it and then the plants grow and produce well.
The thought of having manure dumped on me would be unpleasant but it’s not necessarily bad because the end results is good. You are probably thinking I’m nuts and have gone way out on a limb to create an analogy to tie in fertilizer with life circumstances. Yeah, your probably right but I figured this was a great way to spice up my blog!
We all need a little dung in our life, that is, we need to experience hard stuff that will cause us to grow. There are situations we find ourselves in that can suck the life out of us, create misery, stress, or sadness. – I have used all the manure that has been thrown on me as fertilizer to make me stronger. – Eartha Kitt
Think of a garden that has a large variety of flowers all different in shapes, size and colors, all are beautiful in their own way. Each one of us is a flower in God’s garden growing and maturing into a flower that reflects the vibrant colors He has given us. But in order to be a stunning flower we must go through trials that will cause us to bend, stretch and hurt. – The fairest thing in nature is a flower that still has its roots in the earth and manure. – D. H. Lawrence
In my case I usually get hit with manure and then I stink. When this happens, I can’t stand the smell, so I am propelled to do something about it. I am not going to just sit in muck and cry. I ask for help. This is when I call upon my friends, “Hey, can you please get a shovel and help me dig out of this mess!” Confiding in a close friend and talking out my problem always helps. At least I can get another perspective on my situation. Thankfully, I have awesome friends who will get into the thick of things and help me just as I would do the same for them.
Then it’s time to take a shower and wash the stuff off of me. Praying and forgiveness is a good starting point. Digging into God’s word helps and asking Him for direction gets me on the right path. – Psalm 145: 18-19 The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them.
We all know that this is not an easy or quick process. Sometimes it can take years but every time I have been hit with a load of manure, I have always come out of it smelling pretty and clean. Each life circumstance has caused me to grow and mature and God creates something beautiful inside of me just like one of those gorgeous flowers in his garden. – Romans 12:12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.
How about you? Have you been dumped on with the smelly, yucky stuff? Don’t despair. Remember there is a bright side to all of this and once you have gotten cleaned up, you’ll look back and say, “I sure stunk but God saved me and now I’m smelling pretty good.”
Remember, if God didn’t love you then he wouldn’t bother putting all the time and effort in your life to make you beautiful.
So, you may stinketh sometimes but don’t stop there. Get up, take a shower and walk into the newness of the Lord. Let your vibrant colors shine.
A woman is like a tea bag; you never know how strong it is until it’s in the hot water. – Eleanor Roosevelt
Gwen
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