Isaiah 61:3
“… provide for those who grieve in Zion to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes…”
When I younger I loved to garden. My mom would buy all sorts of little seed-packs for 20 cents apiece, little seed packs that I’m not even sure were filled with seeds… they may have very well been scraps of cardboard. But regardless, we’d pull out shovels and tools and get to work in the dirt of the yard, gardening. I can vividly remember mud pies being made, lots of laughs, and proud photos were taken by mounds of dirt.
My mom always planted flowers in that dirt, I’d throw some seeds around carelessly, and she’d pat down the soil, nice and firm, for tulips and hydrangeas to grow.
Gardens have always been special to me since those golden childhood summers. Gardens hold this infinite idealistic sense of pure bliss and beauty. It’s funny because gardens start with dirt, something we don’t naturally find lovely or appealing. After long days we scrub the dirt off, we look at foul behavior and deem it dirty. Dirt isn’t good. Dirt, in its proper definition, is known as a substance that soils someone or something.
We all have dirt, we’re all made up of some dirt. And if we want to hold true to the definition of dirt, dirt might just symbolize the sin and brokenness in our lives. And none of us walks through life dirtless or blameless. What’s magnificent though is what Jesus longs to do with our dirt.
He longs to plant a garden with your dirt. Jesus longs to take your dirt, the mistakes, the mess-ups, the hurt and pain, and turn it into something beautiful. Jesus came not to condemn or cancel. But to save us.
Take time today to bring your dirt before Jesus. He can make beauty out of your dirt, believe that and begin moving toward him expectantly. Listen to this song and process what happens when we dig our roots deep and allow Jesus to help us rise.