2 Corinthians 9:6 KJV But this [I say], He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Hosea 10:12 AMP Sow for yourselves according to righteousness (uprightness and right standing with God); reap according to mercy and loving-kindness. Break up your uncultivated ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, to inquire for and of Him, and to require His favor, till He comes and teaches you righteousness and rains His righteous gift of salvation upon you. |
I've been practicing centering prayer for my spiritual formation group and, through it, have realized how ungrounded I feel at the moment. Some of it is a natural uprootedness, from the geographical move and from a significant romantic break-up. The rupture in relational and logistical routine has left me scrambling to put everything back together in some semblance of comforting order. Find a job, register for classes, study Greek, scan for marriageable men in my divinity school class, get daily exercise, etc. Perhaps I'll feel steady again if I can get a hold of my life... Ah, but what insidious lies we tell ourselves. Once again in a life plagued by this theme, my first response to feeling out of control is to seize onto things. My foci become my idols, distracting me from full reliance on God.
One of my more productive distractions has been building and planting a raised bed vegetable garden at my new house. Of all the litany of things cluttering the past few weeks, this one has given me the most joy. Perhaps it was a subconscious desire to put down roots and put my hands and feet in the soothing earth. Or of my hope for these next three years that I all too often lose sight of, that during this period of academic theological reflection and pastoral training, I want to "soweth bountifully" as Paul says. I desire God's abundance in my actions. But my uncentered current state makes myself like untilled ground, hard-packed and resistant to new life. As my new garden required me to put hours into preparing the soil before I planted the many seeds last week, so it is time for me to "break up [my] uncultivated ground, for it is time to seek the Lord," as Hosea says.
Thank you, God, for your promise to teach me centered righteousness and rain your salvation upon the soil of my life.
One of my more productive distractions has been building and planting a raised bed vegetable garden at my new house. Of all the litany of things cluttering the past few weeks, this one has given me the most joy. Perhaps it was a subconscious desire to put down roots and put my hands and feet in the soothing earth. Or of my hope for these next three years that I all too often lose sight of, that during this period of academic theological reflection and pastoral training, I want to "soweth bountifully" as Paul says. I desire God's abundance in my actions. But my uncentered current state makes myself like untilled ground, hard-packed and resistant to new life. As my new garden required me to put hours into preparing the soil before I planted the many seeds last week, so it is time for me to "break up [my] uncultivated ground, for it is time to seek the Lord," as Hosea says.
Thank you, God, for your promise to teach me centered righteousness and rain your salvation upon the soil of my life.