Building Soil: an Allegory for Life

I'm working on my garden.

I'm learning what it takes to help plants grow.  Mostly, what I've learned, is that everything takes effort, and the effort is in the background--separate from the showy growing season.  The in-the-shadows season of soil-building and development, long before you plant, is just as important as the season of harvest. 

The background season -  that season of growth, long before anything is seen above ground, is long and arduous.  What looks like trash - layers of cardboard, mulch, coffee grounds and food scraps for compost - become the layers that build soil and create strong root systems. Layer upon layer of little actions look insignificant, but build a better harvest with fewer weeds.

Such is life, as well -  the seasons of learning and enrichment are long and slow.  It looks insignificant.  A habit here, a lesson there, form the rich soil of our hearts and lives. Sometimes, the harvests surprises us with abundance; other times, we're surprised by the scarcity.  Either way, we learn the lessons our Creator is curating in our lives. But always, it's about the soil we grow in: the pouring in before we can pour out and grow. 

In the waiting season or in the harvest, the sun and rain are God's good gifts to us.  They soak and warm the ground, just as the Holy Spirit soaks our lives with grace and mercy. 

 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.8For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. 9And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.  Galations: 7-10