We are DIRT...

Literally. We are Dirt. 

"And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground..." 

(Gen. 2:7) 

" ...for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. " 

(Gen 3:19)  

 

In my Mission Prep Class today, we talked about Dirt.
A brother in my ward shared a thought.

His next door neighbors have an amazing Garden. The dirt, or shall we say, soil, is moist and rich.

His soil, on the other hand, is rocky. Choppy. Rough. Couldn't grow a thing in it even if He wanted to.

Right next door.

Almost the same patch of earth, if you think about it.

Yet one is smooth, and the other is rocky.

We are Dirt. 

We are all made out of the same thing. Dirt. Dust. Soil.

Yet some soil is rocky. Some soil is smooth.

But...Dirt we are. Each of us start out on ground level (pun not intended... well ok--a little intended) We are made of the same stuff. And because of that, we all have the equal potential to become something more!

We are, each of us, a dirty, lowly patch of earth. And sometimes times, while this analogy is figurative, we probably really do feel that way.

Lucky for us, the Gardener has had lots of practice in making rough places become smooth.

The neighbor's garden in the story was made beautiful because they put the hard, back-breaking effort into working out the kinks. Battering down those boulders. Stooping down and scattering the unnecessary stones. It wasn't perfect to begin with. There wasn't a magic fairy, Cinderella and a pumpkin coach-type wand that fixed all their harvesting problems. It took TIME. And lots of PRESSURE.

But little by little, their garden...their soil...their dirt...became Beautiful...Rich...Pure...Fruitful...

God does with us what those neighbors did with their garden. All of our stones and our thorns (Matthew 13) He makes into Pearls and Diamonds. Fruit and Flowers. Imagine the garden of Eden. I am going to just go right out and say that God's got good gardening skills. 

So...

We are Dirt.

And you'd better believe that by the time we let God get through with us, we're going to be the best darn dirt there is!!

But, you may ask, what can Dirt do? Matthew 13 talks about the Parable of the Seeds. Some fell by the Wayside. Others were lost among the Stones. Many were stuck between the brambles and Thorns. And then there was the Good Soil.

Let us be the Good Soil. Fruitful. Happy. Growing and sharing our testimony with others. Teaching the Gospel. Holding onto the beautiful seeds of truth that find their way into our hearts and never letting go.

Good Soil works. Yes. Christ and His ever infinite atonement are working to help us at move out those Stones and those Thorns.

But we--The Good Soil--We have to stir up a little dust devils every now and again.We've got to get our own hands dirty.

Help those Wayside seeds find a good patch of ground.

Stir up those seeds among the Stones and help them find a sure place.

Dislodge from the Thorns those seeds that are sacred and sink them deep into the soil.

We, all of us, are Dirt. And as Dirt, as the good soil that God is making us into...we have what it takes to raise, nurture and nourish seeds. We can grow fruit...flowers...and then, in turn, share the fruits of our labors, our harvests, with those who don't yet have that good soil. Those that don't know God yet. Those that know of Him, but don't truly Know Him. Even those that love Him for a season, when everything is going right a good, but forget Him, or blame Him when life is a little too dusty.

Those are they who need the Good Soil. Those are they that need You.
 
So, walk those dusty streets and get a little muddy, too. Just remember, You're out there doing the Best that Dirt can Do.

xoxoxo
Hermanita Holly Howell