What We Can Learn About God from Being (Adoptive) Parents: Romans 8:14-16

“All who are guided by the Spirit of God are sons of God…you received the spirit of adoption, enabling us to cry out ‘Abba, Father!’ The Spirit himself joins with our spirit to bear witness that we are children of God.” Romans 8:14-16 (New Jerusalem Bible)

My wife and I were privileged to adopt a new born girl three and a half years ago, and she’s since developed definite behavior patterns. They include traits we can easily identify as “ours.” Given the lack of biological connection between us , that’s obviously not genetic.

So how did it occur? There seem to be two keys, both of which also show how we adults can pick up traits from our Heavenly Father.

Time Together

First and foremost is lots of time together. My wife is a stay at home mom, my job rarely requires me to work evenings or weekends, and I spend most of my free time with our daughter. The result is that she is almost always with one or both of us. And that is “quality time” in the sense that it’s relaxed and open, with us talking, playing, or otherwise interacting. Our daughter can’t help but absorb our ways because she's saturated with our presence.

That same dynamic is key to our taking on God's personality traits. Time with Him is crucial; the more time we consciously spend in His presence, the more of His characteristics we’ll pick up.

Scripture repeatly stresses the importance of continual interaction with God. It instructed the Israelites to create physical prompts to refocus them on God in the midst of their daily activities, Numbers 15:37-41; Deuteronomy 6:8-9, and describes the blessings that come from keeping God in mind. See Psalm 1:1-2 (New Jerusalem Bible)(“How blessed is anyone who…murmurs [God’s] law day and night”) and Psalm 119:97. Luke 18:1 recounts that Jesus taught the disciples about “their need for constant prayer.” Paul repeatedly stressed the importance of continual prayer in his general instructions to the churches. Romans 12:12, Ephesians 6:18, Colossians 4:2, and I Thessalonians 15:16-18.

Paying Attention

Almost as important is our daughter's perceptiveness of what’s going on in her relationship with us. Although she knows she's unconditionally loved, she’s quick to sense that we're sometimes less than pleased with her behavior and that other conduct makes us happy, proud, etc. In other words, she pays attention to the results of her conduct.

We likewise benefit by paying active attention to the consequences of our actions. We can learn a lot by considering which general behavioral patterns and specfic actions produce godly results and which do not. That analysis, if acted upon, can greatly aid our growth in the Lord.

Scripture commends such analysis. Proverbs 2:2 instructs that we should be “tune[d]…to wisdom, and concentrate on understanding.” Proverbs 4:1 (New Jerusalem Bible) tells us to “pay attention, and learn what understanding is.” Similar instruction is found in Proverbs 4:20, 13:1, 15:31-32, and 22:17.

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In sum, we can take on the ways of our adoptive Father through the same process my adoptive daughter is taking on my wife and I’s ways, by spending a lot of time together and paying close attention to the results of our actions. That helps His Spirit “join[] with our spirit[s] to bear witness that we are children of God.” Romans 8:15 (New Jerusalem Bible).

(Other images comparing our relationship with God with our relationship to our children can be found at What We Can Learn About God From Being Parents.

Images about conforming/yielding to God were posted September 12a, 18a, 18b, 18d, and 23; October 3 and 3a, November 6 and 21, December 8, 12, and 15, 2004 and January 10d, February 18, May 11, June 18 and 27, August 21 and 27, 2005.

Images about the process of growing/maturing in our walk with God were posted October 3a and 17, 2004; June 11 and 18; July 20, August 21 and 27, 2005.)

Hurricanes Rita and Katrina: We Must Humble Ourselves Before God

This sequence of extraordinarily powerful storms is unprecedented, making the words of Joel seem right on point: “Listen to this…everybody in the country, attend! Has anything like this ever happened in your day, or in your ancestors’ days?” Joel 1:2 (New Jerusalem Bible). Equally relevant is his direction for responding to such events; we must humble ourselves before God, focusing on Him. See Joel 1:13-15 and 2:15-17.

God is trying to tell us something and we should be listening. We need to be on our faces before Him praying for His mercy and that we get, and properly respond to, what He is trying to show us. His Spirit will help us with such prayers, as promised in Romans 8:26, but that will only happen if we humble ourselves before Him, both individually and as a nation.

How to Pray For and Help Those Affected by Hurricane Katrina

It is obvious that we should pray for those whose lives have been, or will be, disrupted by Hurricane Katrina. What is sometimes less obvious is how to do so. Here are some suggestions:

The Direct Victims

- For protection, strength, provision, and rescue for those still trapped/stranded.

- For comfort, patience, strength, provision, and special grace for those in shelters and for the amelioration of conditions there.

- For comfort, peace, patience, strength, provision, and special grace for those who are now homeless.

-For the elderly, young, sick, injured, orphaned, poor, and others who are particularly vulnerable.

- For those who are particularly isolated.

- For John and Robin DeLamatre, their friends, family, neighbors, acquaintances, and colleagues.

- For Greg Eiden’s daughter and her friends, family, neighbors, acquaintances, and colleagues.

- For all those who have been, or will be, unemployed as a result of the storm.

- For those who are unable to get a hold of friends and loved ones.

- For those whose educations have been, or will be, disrupted.

- For those who are, or have family members, on active duty with the military or who are otherwise unavoidably away from home.

- For all the churches, para-church organizations, their staff members, their members, and clergy affected by the storm and it’s aftermath.

- For those in rural areas.

- For all those who work in agriculture, the energy industry, fishing, tourism, hospitality.

- That disease not spread.

- That levies, pumps, utilities, communications and transportation systems be preserved or repaired as soon as possible.

Those Involved in Rescue and Recovery Efforts

For wisdom, strength, energy, compassion, and endurance for:

- All civilian federal, state, county, and local officials/employees and their families.

- All those serving in the active duty military, national guard or reserves, law enforcement, and public safety organizations and their families.

- All those working in non-profit groups like the Red Cross and their families.

- All Christians working to help others, that they may truly be “Jesus with skin on.”

- All those in the medical professions and their families.

- All those that work for or with utilities and their families.

- All those working in sewage treatment or disposal, waste treatment and disposal and other sanitation related areas and their families.

- All those working in funeral homes, mortuaries, morgues and related areas and their families.

- All those in construction and their families.

- All those in transportation and their families.

- All those working for the relief organizations listed below.

All of Us

- That we learn what God wants us to learn from this catastrophe.

- That the adverse enviornmental, economic, and social impacts be minimal.

-That we each do what we can to help.

Material Support

We can also give material support through The Salvation Army, Catholic Charities, Lutheran World Relief, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, Baptist Disaster Relief, Episcopal Relief, and United Methodist Disaster Relief Fund.

(Images about prayer were posted September 17, 17a, and 17b; October 8 and 17, November 13 and 19, 2004 and May 27, 2005.

Images about the fact that God blesses us in order for us to bless others were posted September 12b, 18c, and 18d, 2004 and August 27, 2005.)

Mature Christians Are Like Well Worn Blue Jeans—The Process of Achieving "Holeyness"

So how do Christians get to the state described in the previous post? By being used for their intended purposes and being cleaned.

Being Used

Jeans become supple by being worn—a lot. They're put between their wearer and rough, sometimes dirty, conditions, absorbing sweat from the inside and grime from the outside. That’s what changes them from rigid to conforming; the more that happens the more they get broken in.

It’s the same with Christians. We mature when we let God use us for the things He designed us for. That’s often difficult; it puts us between God and tough situations, feeling pressure from both sides. But that’s what takes us from stiff to supple. Just like jeans, we can’t get there if we’re sitting on the shelf.

Being Cleaned

Another way jeans get broken in is by being washed. That grit and grime must be removed periodically and the process of doing so itself fades their original colors.

The same thing happens to maturing Christians; we must regularly get into God’s Word and conversation with Him. That not only cleans us for our next use, but each session takes out a little more of our original, sinfull, nature, making it less and less prominent.

(Images about conforming/yielding to God were posted September 12a, 18a, 18b, 18d, and 23; October 3 and 3a, November 6; and 21, December 8, 12, and 15, 2004 and January 10d, February 18, May 11, June 18 and 27; August 21 and 27; and October 3, 2005.

Images about the process of growing/maturing in our walk with God were posted October 3a and 17, 2004; June 11 and 18; July 20, August 21 and 27; and October 3 2005.

Images about diligence/perseverance in doing God’s will were posted on October 1, 3a, 8, and 17 and November 7, 2004 and January 10c, June 11, 13, and 18; July 15 and August 27, 2005.

Images about the fact that God blesses us in order for us to bless others were posted September 12b, 18c, and 18d, 2004 and August 27, 2005.

Images about the importance of exercising the spiritual disciplines were posted September 17a, 18a, and 18d, and October 3a, and 8, 2004 and January 10d and August 27, 2005.)

Mature Christians Are Like Well Worn Blue Jeans—Aspiring to "Holeyness"

Mature Christians are a lot like blue jeans. Most started out stiff and deeply dyed. As they walked with God they were broken in; they became softer, more conformed to His shape, and their original colors became less pronounced. Eventually, they got thinner and thinner, so that folks saw more and more of God, just as one sees more of the wearer of a threadbare, and ultimately holey, pair of jeans.

(Images about conforming/yielding to God were posted September 12a, 18a, 18b, 18d, and 23; October 3 and 3a, November 6; and 21, December 8, 12, and 15, 2004 and January 10d, February 18, May 11, June 18 and 27; August 21 and 27; and October 3, 2005.

Images about the process of growing/maturing in our walk with God were posted October 3a and 17, 2004; June 11 and 18; July 20, August 21 and 27; and October 3 2005.)

What We Can Learn About God From Being Parents: “Because I Said So.”

My three year old daughter is well into the “why” stage; I tell her something and she wants a rationale. Most of her questions can be answered easily enough, but some things just can’t be explained. They are beyond her capacity to understand at this point in her development, even though they are very clear to me and even though they have real impact on her life.

The best I can do on those is “because I said so.” That doesn’t always satisfy her, or me, but we both have to live with it. Someone has to watch out for her, I’m the parent, so it’s up to me. We’ll both be happier when she is able to understand.

There’s no doubt a similar dynamic between God and us. We’re simply incapable of understanding some things that must be painfully obvious to Him. They’re beyond our grasp, even though they reach into the deepest parts of our lives. We too have to be satisfied with a divine, and sometimes silent, “because I said so.”

(Other images comparing our relationship with God with our relationship to our children can be found at What We Can Learn About God From Being Parents.

Images about trusting God amidst the unexpected/difficult/incomprehensible were posted November 7, and 15, 2004, and April 25, July 11b, and August 9, 2005.)

Discipleship is like Riding a Bike—Keep Your Eyes on the Path and Yourself Away From Its Edges. (Proverbs 4:20-27)

Experienced cyclists and mature Christians both find that that accidents occur much less frequently if they keep their eyes on the path instead of other things. They also learn they are less likely to take painful spills if they stay in the middle of the path, rather than going as close to the edge as they think you can get away with.

That’s nothing new; Scripture recorded those dynamics thousands of years ago. Check out Proverbs 4:25-27.

(Images dealing with cycling themes were posted July 11, 15, 20, and August 3, 2005.

Images about the benefits of eliminating things that distract us from God/His purposes for us were posted September 18d, October 3a and 14, November 21, December 8, 2004 and February 28 and August 3, 2005.)

Discipleship is like Riding a Bike—You Get Better at It the More You Do It.

Veteran cyclists know that while they still must work hard to move along at a good pace, they get better at it with experience. They develop stronger leg muscles and more overall stamina. They pick up techniques that improve their efficiency, learning when to shift to what gear, how to deal with head winds, when it’s wise to slow down, etc. They still work hard to cover ground, but they find that they get farther, faster, and with less fatigue the longer they've been riding.

Veteran disciples experience the same dynamic; they get stronger the longer they walk in God’s ways. They develop spiritual muscle allowing them to more easily deal with tests, temptations, and difficulties that would have been harder to conquer earlier in their walk. As their trust in God grows, they are able to weather longer periods of adversity; they grow in spiritual stamina.

They also grow in specific spiritual disciplines—prayer, time in the Word and in Christian community—that help them more effectively cover the course God puts before them. While there’s no doubt that experienced disciples must still put real effort into their walks, and that their paths become more challenging the further they go, it’s also undeniably true that the Holy Spirit makes them better able to deal with those things the longer they walk with Him.

That pattern is reflected in scripture. Moses started out hesitant in Exodus chapters 3 and 4, but grew increasingly strong as he followed the course God laid out for him. Jesus repeatedly, and in different contexts, taught that “[a]ny one who has will be given more [.]” Matthew 13:12 (New Jerusalem Bible). See also Matthew 25:29; Mark 4:25; Luke 8:18 and 19:26. Peter went from denying Jesus on Good Friday to boldly proclaiming Him in very threatening circumstances. See Acts 4:1-22; 5:29-33,40-42.

Just as there’s no denying that “[i]n this world you will have hardship,” John 16:33 (New Jerusalem Bible), there’s also no doubt that God increasingly strengthens those who diligently follow Him.

(Images dealing with cycling themes were posted July 11, 15, 20, and August 3, 2005.

Images about the process of growing/maturing in our walk with God were posted October 3a and 17, 2004; May 11, June 11 and 18; July 20, August 21 and 27; and October 3 2005.)

Discipleship is like Riding a Bike—There’s More To It Than Just Getting There.

Those who've spent time cycling have experienced a very real dynamic—how the very act of riding provides joy that goes beyond getting to your destination. Freedom, grace, and smoothness are an inherent part of riding a good bike, and even though you may be expending serious effort to get where you’re going, the air you move through keeps you cooler than you’d expect. It’s hard to adequately describe these things, but any one who has done serious cycling "knows" this dynamic.

The same is true of living according to God’s Word. While it too will get you where you need to be, it provides joys beyond that. It also provides a very real freedom: freedom from uncertain, and ultimately unhealthy, worldly perspectives. Moreover, the inherently perfect nature of God’s ways provide unique grace and smoothness and, although there is no denying that God requires real effort from us, something about the discipline of living in conformity with His precepts makes it easier than one would expect. Finally, that reality can only be partially described; it must be experienced to be fully appreciated.

That is reflected throughout scripture. Proverbs teaches that wisdom (i.e. living in conformity with God’s ways) “fills your soul with delight,” and provides “smooth” paths that “lead to contentment.” Prov. 2:10; 3: 6 and 17 (New Jerusalem Bible). Jesus tells us that shouldering God’s yoke is easier than it would appear and, as Jeremiah also recognized, gives “rest for your souls.’ Matthew 11:29-30; Jeremiah 6:16. Paul noted that living according to God’s direction gives us, among other things “joy, peace, patience,” Galatians 5:22, and strength beyond ourselves. Phillipians 4:13.

That’s not to say that being a dedicated disciple is without difficulty; the Old Testament, Jesus, Paul, James, Peter, and John make it clear that it can be very, very, demanding. But the truth remains that those who commit themselves to God’s direction are, like a cyclist, given special, indescribable, graces to get through those things as they get where they are going.

(Images dealing with cycling themes were posted July 11, 15, 20, and August 3, 2005.

Images about savoring God’s blessings were posted May 16 and 20, July 7, and 15, 2005.

Images about diligence/perseverance in doing God’s will were posted on October 1, 3a, 8, and 17 and November 7, 2004 and January 10c, June 11, 13, and 18; July 15 and August 27, 2005.)

Discipleship is like Riding a Bike—You Can’t “Get It” Until You Get on it.

You can understand why someone who’s never experienced a bike would be skeptical about riding one. “It looks flimsy and can’t even stand up by itself,” he thinks. “Why should I give up the stability of my own two feet and get on it. I’d probably fall and hurt myself if I try that thing. Besides, it’s going to take some serious effort to make it move.”

But those fears are dispelled if he actually tries it. After the first wobbly feet he develops enough momentum to gain some stability, it gets easier to peddle, and he realizes that he’s moving faster and easier than he could on his feet. There may be a few spills at first, but if he gets past those he sees that this thing works after all.

We see the same dynamic in believers who are hesitant to move beyond just accepting Jesus’ forgiveness into a life of real discipleship. It doesn’t look like it’ll work. Instead, they think it would be safer to stick with the way they've been living; there are fewer risks and a fully surrendered life looks hard.

But like the novice cyclist just described, a newly committed disciple comes to see that God’s ways work better than his own. If he gets past the initial wobbles, he realizes that, like momentum on a bicycle, the Holy Spirit will keep him upright, moving ahead faster, and with less effort, than he could have managed through his old ways. He will take a few falls, but the experience will ultimately dispel his fears if he sticks with it.

Scripture validates that pattern, perhaps most clearly in Luke chapter ten. Jesus sent some disciples out with instructions to do ministry in total reliance on God, instructions that must have seemed impractical from a human perspective. Luke 10:1-12. But they followed Jesus’ instructions, and, true to form, God came through. When they related their experiences, Luke 10:17, Jesus’ response well summarized the dynamic: “I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to little children.” Luke 10:21 (New Jerusalem Bible).

What Jesus was driving at is that disciples must act with childlike faith, even if God’s instructions seem foolish according to human “wisdom.” Again it's like riding a bike; little kids are more eager to try it than adults. In short, we’ll never fully experience God’s wonderful power if we don’t step out in faith and try His ways.

(Images dealing with cycling themes were posted July 11, 15, 20, and August 3, 2005.

Images about trusting God amidst the unexpected/difficult/incomprehensible were posted November 7, and 15, 2004, and April 25, July 11b, and August 9, 2005.)

Discipleship is like Riding a Bike—Introduction

Living in the power of God’s word is a lot like riding a bicycle. As will be developed in the next few posts, it doesn’t make sense until you try it, the full extent of its benefits only become apparent once you’re up and running, and you get better at it the more you do it.

(Images dealing with cycling themes were posted July 11, 15, 20, and August 3, 2005.)

Our Daily Bread—Savoring God’s Smorgasbord

The other day my wife and I planned to take our three year old daughter to the zoo, but before we left I read something in the newspaper that made me envious of a colleague. I prayed for forgiveness and help appreciating—“savoring” to use the language of a previous image—the many ways God has blessed me and off we went.

God answered that prayer on multiple levels, one of which could not have been more direct. We went into the aquarium to check out a floor to ceiling tank replicating a coral reef. My wife and daughter went right up against the glass while I stood back and took it all in.

At that point it hit me; God was giving me a smorgasbord of blessings. I had the pleasure of seeing my wife having a radiant time with our daughter, my daughter being gigglingly thrilled with what was before her, and the neon beauty of each of the many varieties of fish, all at one time. Like the offerings at a buffet, each of those things was independently succulent, but here they were all together, presented in a way that complimented each other. And, to top it off, God made it plain that this was His answer to my earlier prayer by calling it to mind at that moment.

I don’t have a grand point to make here, just a practical observation: God is incredibly faithful and richly generous. We simply need to turn to Him and look for his subtle, but stunning, blessings. "[H]ow extraordinarily great is the power that he has exercised for us believers; this accords with the strength of his power.” Ephesians 1:19 (New Jerusalem Bible).

(Images about savoring God’s blessings were posted May 16 and 20, July 7, and 15, 2005.

Images addressing what we can learn about God from being parents were posted September 17b, 17b, and 17c; November 13, 15, and 24; December 2, 2004 and January 2, February 18, April 25, August 9 and October 3 2005.)

Christians are like Balloons

Christians are like balloons. We come in many colors, shapes, and sizes. Like balloons that have not been blown up, we do not reach anything close to our potential unless we are filled from without—by God’s Holy Spirit. And also like balloons, we must be stretched in order to be all we are intended to be.

(Images about conforming/yielding to God were posted September 12a, 18a, 18b, 18d, and 23; October 3 and 3a, November 6; and 21, December 8, 12, and 15, 2004 and January 10d, February 18, May 11, June 18 and 27; August 21 and 27; and October 3, 2005.

Images about God providing things we need, but can’t provide for ourselves, were posted September 12a, 17a, and 18c, October 3a, 3b November 6, 10, 21 and 27, 2004 and January 2, 10b, and 10c, June 13 and 27, 2005.)

Unexpected Fruit from Long Dormant Seeds

Seeds can lay dormant for long periods and still germinate into fruitful plants. They get covered up with too much soil and remain inactive, but something brings them to the surface, they sprout and produce, sometimes decades after they fell to the ground.

I recently experienced something that illustrates the same dynamic with God's work. In the mid-1800's an illustrator made etchings of Bible scenes that were collected in a book published after his death. I stumbled upon a copy, but it sat in my basement for months until I showed it to my three year old daughter. The illustration of Jesus raising Jairus' daughter from the dead (Matt. 9:18-19, 23-26; Mark 5:22-24, 35-43; Luke 8:41-42, 49-56) caught her attention and I was able to use it to tell her about Jesus' power and love. That stuck her and now when we look at her children's Bible she wants to go right to the part where "Jesus made that little girl feel better."

That shows how God can produce fruit in ways beyond our understanding. He used a seed sown in the mid-nineteenth century to produce fruit early in the twenty-first century. All that occurred long after the etching was made, the artist was gone, and the world had changed in ways the artist couldn’t have possibly imagined. And that etching only had that effect because of the actions of others he had no control over (the editor and publisher of the posthumous book, its distributors, whoever owned the book before me, and me).

The point is that God is able to use our good works to far more effect than we can possibly imagine—if we use what he gives us in the first place.

(Images about gardening or soil related themes were posted October 3c, November 21, December 8, 2004 and February 28, June 11, 13 and 24, 2005.

Images about patience/waiting on God were posted October 1, November 21, December 8, 2004 and June 11, 18, and 24, 2005.)

Sailing Before God's Wind: John 3:8

Fruitful Christians are like sail boats. God provides the wind and we are most effective when we align ourselves with Him, taking the course and making the tacks that keep us before His wind. We do best when we let Him keep his hand over ours on the tiller and when we keep ourselves clean of barnacles (sin and distractions) that can slow us down.

That doesn’t come easy or all at once. Strong wind blows over rough water and barnacles constantly try to attach themselves to us. But we get better at it dealing with those things the more we do so and, if we stay on course, we know the final destination will be well worth the effort.

(Images about conforming/yielding to God were posted September 12a, 18a, 18b, 18d, and 23; October 3 and 3a, November 6; and 21, December 8, 12, and 15, 2004 and January 10d, February 18, May 11, June 18 and 27; August 21 and 27; and October 3, 2005.

Images about patience/waiting on God were posted October 1, November 21, December 8, 2004 and June 11, 18, and 24, 2005.

Images about diligence/perseverance in doing God’s will were posted on October 1, 3a, 8, and 17 and November 7, 2004 and January 10c, June 11, 13, and 18; July 15 and August 27, 2005.

Images about the process of growing/maturing in our walk with God were posted October 3a and 17, 2004; May 11, June 11 and 18; July 20, August 21 and 27; and October 3 2005.)

More on Making “Good Soil”—Matt. 13:8; Mark 4:8; Luke 8:8

Two other principles are illustrated by the process for improving garden soil, as described in the post of June 11, 2005.

Enrichment Must Come From God

The first is that the soil could not improve without help from beyond itself. It wouldn’t have gotten better, and in fact would have become increasingly depleted, without the amendments added over the years.

The same is true of us. We can only become more fruitful if God “amends” us by adding the things that we need, but do not possess. Sure, some of us are blessed with native talent that allows us to produce impressive results on our own, but we can’t sustain that without God’s active blessing. Instead we, like soil, will inevitably become depleted without the Holy Spirit’s infusions.

We Must Act on What God Gives Us

The second is that enrichment couldn’t happen if the original soil did not affirmatively act on the amendments. New organic materials must be broken down into particular nutrients before they enrich the soil they are added to. That only happens if microbes in that soil go to work digesting those amendments. Without that, the amendments don't become part of the soil; they do no good.

The same is true of our interactions with God. Although we can’t become truly fruitful without His spiritual “amendments,” they don’t do any good unless we act on them, incorporating them into our day-to-day lives. Otherwise, they are just abstract principles without impact.

(Images about gardening or soil related themes were posted October 3c, November 21, December 8, 2004 and February 28, June 11, 13 and 24, 2005.

Images about God providing things we need, but can’t provide for ourselves, were posted September 12a, 17a, and 18c, October 3a, 3b November 6, 10, 21 and 27, 2004 and January 2, 10b, and 10c, June 13 and 27, 2005.

Images about diligence/perseverance in doing God’s will were posted on October 1, 3a, 8, and 17 and November 7, 2004 and January 10c, June 11, 13, and 18; July 15 and August 27, 2005.)

Making “Good Soil”—Matt. 13:8; Mark 4:8; Luke 8:8

Several years ago I started a garden and resolved to make the soil as rich as possible. It didn’t happen overnight or through a fixed program, but took years of adding different types of organic materials, known as “amendments” by serious gardeners, to the soil at different times in different ways.

Sometimes that occurred in big steps. One year I tilled in six or eight inches of finely ground leaves. Other years, I added truckloads of raw manure when I put my garden “to bed” in the fall. Some springs I supplemented those autumnal additions with bags and bags of pre-composted manure.

But most amendments were more gradual and less direct. One winter I added a bucket of grounds from a coffee shop each week as I waited for spring. Several years I transplanted earthworms because their excrement adds additional nutrients. All year every year, I put used tea bags, other kitchen scraps, and yard waste into my compost pile to create rich humus for later addition to the garden.

The combined result was a gradual improvement of the soil—and the garden’s productivity. Although no step yielded instant results, each crop was noticeably better than the one before it and, as time went on, the garden became exponentially more fruitful than it was at the outset.

God works that way to make us into “good soil” producing “crop[s] multiplying thirty, sixty or even a hundred times.” Mark 4:8. Sometimes He adds His goodness in big doses, but mostly He enriches us a little every day, and a little more each Sunday, to give us what we need to produce what he wants. Scripture describes it well: "accumulation little by little is the way to wealth." Proverbs 13:8 (New Jerusalem Bible)

Those amendments come in various forms, from unpleasant circumstances that, like manure, really stink but produce tremendous enrichment, to more agreeable things that make different contributions.

Like the process for enriching physical soil, no one thing gets us all the way to where we need to be, but each addition works together with the others to enable us produce more and more over time. And when we look back at where we’ve come from, we're amazed at how much He’s multiplied our fruitfulness.

(Images about gardening or soil related themes were posted October 3c, November 21, December 8, 2004 and February 28, June 11, 13 and 24, 2005.

Images about diligence/perseverance in doing God’s will were posted on October 1, 3a, 8, and 17 and November 7, 2004 and January 10c, June 11, 13, and 18; July 15 and August 27, 2005.

Images about the process of growing/maturing in our walk with God were posted October 3a and 17, 2004; May 11, June 11 and 18; July 20, August 21 and 27; and October 3 2005.

Images about patience/waiting on God were posted October 1, November 21, December 8, 2004 and June 11, 18, and 24, 2005.)