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February 2012
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Reflection on Life – Latest

Discoveries in the Dirt

Last spring, I was on my hands and knees in the dirt, pulling weeds. For the most part, I enjoy working in our yard. But, when it comes to weeding, I really hate it.

On this first day of spring weeding, I was pleasantly surprised at how easily these terrible weeds came out. It was quick progress; significantly different from the previous summer when weeding this same area had been so difficult. Now, it was so much easier because the dirt had changed. The long winter rains made the soil soft and pliable.

As my hands reach into the dirt
I can feel the stormy winters
Enveloping my heart.
 
When harsh rains
Drench my soul. They soften me,
Presenting me with opportunity 
 
To do away with the choking weeds;
Starving the hidden flowers
Of beauty within me.

As I worked in the soft dirt, I saw and felt and understood how the dark winters had changed me. How, over recent months and years, the soil of my own soul had been softened; weeds uprooted.

I wondered, “When winter returns again – and it will – what then will I choose?

I choose to be grateful
For the softened soil of my soul.
I choose to embrace winters,
 
As preparation for weeding.
I choose to believe some day my heart
Will have fewer choking weeds.
 
I choose to have faith my soul
Will again feel the warm, summer sun.
During the darkness and cold,
 
I choose to accept God’s grace,
Believing his spring flowers
Will one day blossom within me.

Each of us, every day, gets to choose how we will respond to our winters.

I hope you choose to be grateful – to feel blessed, not bitter.

I wish you well.