Lessons from the Dirt

Sheri Wohlfert ponders how sometimes lessons and the Father’s gentle reminders come to life in unexpected places — like the dirt. 

It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep. (Mark 4:5b)

A couple of weeks ago I watched out the laundry-room window to soak in something that truly made my heart so happy. I was watching Dave and our 3-year-old grandson Lewis plant the garden. They were digging and planting and chatting like a couple of old farmers. I loved watching them enjoy the dirt, sunshine, and each other. It doesn’t really matter if the harvest is great because the planting was awesome.

Lewis had a lot of questions and Dave had a lot of answers, but “Will we have lots of corn?” was a question Dave couldn’t truthfully answer. He could hopefully answer but a lot of factors that Dave and Lewis have no control over come in to play as we wait.  

We need to go deep

Whether we’re talking about growing vegetables or growing in discipleship, truth, trust, and unwavering faith are things that require depth. In our walk with Jesus, we crave those moments when we “feel” Him. We love those warm, sweet “He’s got me in His arms” moments, but true discipleship is so much bigger and deeper and more meaningful. Those cuddly feelings don’t last forever — and if they are all we’re in this for, we will wither and be scorched by the trials of life. We have to dig deeper. 

My first year as an elementary teacher I had a mentor who told me that some lessons were meant to be a mile wide and an inch deep but the important lessons — the ones the kids would need for a lifetime — needed to be a mile deep and an inch wide. Those are the lessons that carry us through the trials and temptations and noises of the world. Love, surrender, humility: these are the things that need to take root deeply in our daily prayer and our daily living. Allowing these things to take deep root requires daily focus. When we find ourselves fretting about the past or stewing about the future, we aren’t allowing the Father to root us firmly in the space where we are and where He is: the present. 

I have recently been reading a lot about an amazing saint, Francis de Sales, who truly lived a life of wisdom and prayer. I was thinking of him as I watched Dave and Lewis working in the dirt and realized the whole wonderful afternoon would have been ruined if the two of them had been worried and fretful about the harvest instead of enjoying the beginning. Today is a good day to ask the Father to help us be firmly and deeply rooted in Him as we think about some wise words attributed to Saint Francis de Sales:

Let us think only of spending the present day well. Then, when tomorrow shall have come, it will be called today and then, we will think about it. 

A Seed To Plant:

What things cause you to dwell in the past or drift to the future? Make a list of those things and then slowly and prayerfully sit with the words of St. Francis asking God to help you let go of those things and help you root deeply in the present. 

Blessings on your day! 

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Copyright 2024 Sheri Wohlfert
Images: (top, bottom) Canva; (center) copyright 2024 Sheri Wohlfert, all rights reserved.