Two years ago someone came off of the road in front of my house, ran their car through the creek, across my driveway and onto my side yard. When they did this it created a pretty big scar in my yard where the topsoil and grass had been peeled off . It also did some pretty serious damage to their car, there were pieces of their car all over the yard. I thought to myself, “well that serves them right“. Their car had a lot more damage than my yard. For some reason this gave me solace. Even though they damaged my yard, it cost them in the process and they had to pay money to have their car fixed. It’s a country yard and normally they repair themselves. Over a year passed by and that big scar in my yard which measured probably 14″ by 12”, never did grow grass or even weeds. It stayed a dusty bald patch of rocky soil. I noticed it every time I cut the grass, it would remind me of the person that wronged me. I thought I should do something because the patch is not repairing itself.
For whole year I just let it go thinking next year it will be better. Every time I cut the grass it bothered me to look at it. Spring came the following year, grass grew everywhere. However, nothing grew in that brown dusty rocky patch. Again, whenever I cut the grass I would get mad all over again that someone had hurt my yard, even though it’s just a country yard, it was damaged. It no longer mattered to me that their car had more damage than my yard. I forgot all about the car. I was just angry about my yard and yet I still did nothing about it .
Then one Sunday, Pastor Mitch gave a sermon based on the parable of the farmer who spread seed on different types of soil. About how our faith can be like rocky soil. If it is, we need to to mix good soil in our lives. By mixing in the good soil, our faith would be more fertile and produce more meaningful results. Inspired, I came straight home, went to the garage, pulled out my extra dirt, some extra grass seed I had left over, and some straw. I spent the afternoon digging up that dusty rocky patch and mixing in some good soil. I sprinkled on some grass seed and put some straw over it, and gave it a good soaking of water. I spent some time taking care of that rocky patch that had bothered me for so long. I went on vacation for three weeks hoping when I came back, the patch would look a little better. Sure enough, I’d forgotten all about that patch until the next time I had to cut the grass. I came across that old dusty brown patch that was now a lush green patch of fresh new grass and it made me smile. I thought, this is like our lives. We can spend much of our life with a dry dusty brown patch in our soul. Maybe someone has wronged us, or we are angry about some event in our life. We ignore the rocky patch and we don’t tend to it and do nothing for it, after all it’s just one rocky patch. Is it really worth it to take the time to fix? The answer is YES!! That one rocky patch can affect everything around it. If we take a little bit of time and a little bit of care by mixing some good soil with our rocky soil, it will produce positive results! Every time I cut the grass now, I come across a green patch. It looks a little different. It’s not perfect, but it’s better and will continue to improve. It makes me smile and no longer makes me angry.
I’ve forgotten all about the damage that someone had done to my yard, because I took the time to fix my rocky soil. I had hoped it would fix itself. I thought if I just waited long enough, it would go away. In the end, I had to use my God-given abilities to fix my rocky soil. And I did. I used dirt, grass, straw and water He made. Then I let the sunshine do its work. What I’ve learned; God has given us everything we need to fix our rocky soil, but we have to mix it all together. We must make the effort to create a more fertile soil, if we do, God will bless the results. We can’t wait for it to happen on its own. We must participate in God’s plan to fully appreciate His glory.
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