Rich Soil

As you do not know the path of the wind,

or how a body is formed in a mother's womb,

so you cannot understand the work of God,

the Maker of all things.

Sow your seed in the morning,

and at evening let not your hands be idle,

for you do not know which will succeed,

whether this or that,

or whether both will do equally well (Ecc. 11:5-6).

What is it that nourishes our souls?  We all easily recognize the things that nourish our bodies, even though we sometimes choose junk food instead.  As children, we nourish our minds almost by instinct, investigating, wondering, exploring, discovering, reading, asking questions.  As adults, we sometimes think we "know it all," and therefore stop learning in favor of the easier path -- being entertained.

But at the deepest level of our being, beyond the physical, beyond the intellectual, is another part of us that defines who we are -- our spirit.  Proverbs 4:23 says, "Guard well your heart, for out of it flow all the issues of life."  When the Bible speaks of the "heart," it is referring to the spirit, the core of our being.  How many of us "guard well" our spirits?  How many of us give precedence and nourishment to our spirits?

What is it that brings joy and peace and contentment and overflowing love to our lives?  It is not eating to nourish our bodies, nor educating our minds, as wonderful and satisfying as both activities are.  That nourishment is temporary, and fails to satisfy the thirst we feel at our deepest level.  Jesus promised the woman at the well, the one who had had 5 husbands, a fountain springing up to eternal life.  Wow!  Imagine if there were inside us an ever-flowing and renewing fountain of living water!  Would we not go to the fountain daily to drink -- at least as often as we go to our kitchen faucet or the town well to drink?

How do we water the soul, the soil of our hearts?  How do we sow the seeds that spring up 30, 60, or 100-fold?  Whatever we plant in our soul will produce fruit, for good or for evil.  If we want something in our lives to change, it must begin with whatever we are planting in our gardens.  Even before the planting, however, is the condition of the soil in which we plant.

More tomorrow.....