Time to Fertilize

As I was driving to work last night, I was minding my own business, listening to the radio, enjoying the ride, when my sense of smell was assaulted by the most pungent aroma. At first I thought, "Is that me?", followed immediately by, "Nah, I showered." Then I wondered if I'd stepped in something unpleasant and I was just now noticing it.

Then I drove by a field and saw the tell-tale signs that a farmer had been busy fertilizing his fields with none other than manure. Now, I'm a farm girl, and I've been around cow manure most of my life.
But this manure....wow.






I started thinking then about how the most unpleasant things, the stinkiest, can be good.  The manure is used as fertilizer and feeds the ground, thus resulting in a richer, better harvest. Something as basic and disgusting as poop can be useful and beneficial. While I love flowers and harvesting from the vegetable garden, what about the process of getting to that point. All the digging, weeding, and toiling need to come first. And yes, the fertilizing.

This got me thinking about life experiences. Sometimes the best results come out of a difficult, unpleasant times. I think about having a premature baby and the ups and downs that go with that, of the tears, and the fears, the uncertainty of the future. Not necessarily a pleasant experience and not something I would wish for again, but out of that experience, I believe I am a better person. I allowed the experience to grow me into a stronger woman.

Do I let every not-so-nice experience take me to a higher place? No, not always, and certainly not when I am right in the thick of it. That's kinda like the manure. At first, it stinks and you just want to get away from it. Then it begins to work into the soil and do it's thing. After awhile, as the crop grows, you start to see the results, and you realize all the unpleasantness was worth it.

Life hands us a raw deal sometimes. I don't think I have to be happy about it, but I can find something good in the midst of it, if I am willing to look.

Isaiah 61:3

New King James Version (NKJV)

³ To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”

Love,
Dianne