Confession is Good for the Soil

My great-grandfather was a pioneer. My grandfather was a farmer. My father grew up working the land. I did none of that. I think I missed out. I remember the stories my dad tells. Raw land. Full of trees and sloughs and rocks. Had to become fields. So how do you do it? You cut each tree down. You pull up each stump. Gather all the brush and make a big pile to burn. You pick each rock. It takes hours and hours of back breaking labor. You break up the ground one bit at a time. It's incredibly hard work. You only get a piece at a time.

"Confession does for the soul what working the land does for the soil. Before the farmer he works the land removing the rocks and pulling up the stumps. Why? Seed grows better in prepared soil." (Max Lucado)

I have a confession to make. Yesterday I wanted to invest my day on one really important person in my life. My father-in-law. He's a man of great faith. I have so much respect for him and for his walk with God. So we spent a good bit of the day together. At lunch what looked like a homeless guy came by where we were sitting and asked so sit with us. Maybe he was eager for the same thing I was - great conversation. Maybe he was hungry for my leftovers. Maybe he just wanted to bug us. I didn't wait to find out. I brushed him of with a comment. Just like that.

Later on I second guessed myself. That guy could have been anyone. Could have been Jesus. Could have been someone in need. Could have been someone I could have ministered to - even if just for a moment. We could have. I could have taken the lessons my father-in-law was passing on to me and used them. Here we were talking about ministry and God and how He works... But no. I just brushed him off. O God, please forgive me. I'm feeling pretty ashamed of myself. That's not an example of You. Give me your eyes to see the world around me as You see it. Give me eyes to see people as you see them - with great compassion and love. Break up my hardened ground and create a field to plant your seeds of fruitfulness in.

I still have so much unbroken ground. Where will God's seed of fruitfulness go if the ground is still hard and unyeilding? It has to be broken up. My soil needs to be much more prepared to recieve it. I can see there's still a lot of work to do.