Bible Landscaping Secrets
A couple years ago my main water line burst. The fix was not a pretty sight. Half my front yard was excavated leaving a landscaping nightmare. Years later after much work and settling, the yard is beginning to recover.
Turning the earth from the bottom up brought up sizable prehistoric rocks into the front yard. My first priority to restore any green grass was to remove these large rocks.
From behind the house, the wheelbarrow made its appearance and I bribed a couple of my children to help dad move rocks out of the front yard. Of course, for them it was not about moving rocks but looking for ancient fossils and possible dinosaur discoveries.
Soon the big rocks were gone, but lo and behold there were still rocks. Hidden among the large stones were others of lesser size, still preventing a lush landscape of enviable green grass from taking root.
So these smaller stones were hauled away along with a "dinosaur tooth" or two.
Now the work of planting grass could begin. As I gathered the tools to prep the soil, more rocks had moved in, unfortunately they were smaller than the last batch.
Eventually enough rocks and fossils were removed for grass to grow, but even today I am constantly finding insidious little rocks pushing through the dirt.
I was reminded of this story while studying to teach John 3 in our Adult Church school class.
In John 3, Jesus talks to Nicodemus about exposing himself to the light as part of life in the kingdom of God:
Once cleared, the light reveals more that wasn't noticed until the large defects were removed. And the task continues as more and more sins are revealed and excavated from our life.
This is why the saints, who seem beyond sin in our eyes, bemoan their own defects. We don't feel like such large sinners because we only see one or two of the big rocks. But they never leave the light, having cleared the boulders, they see fields of small pebbles.
Theron Mathis
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| not my yard, but a close second |
From behind the house, the wheelbarrow made its appearance and I bribed a couple of my children to help dad move rocks out of the front yard. Of course, for them it was not about moving rocks but looking for ancient fossils and possible dinosaur discoveries.
Soon the big rocks were gone, but lo and behold there were still rocks. Hidden among the large stones were others of lesser size, still preventing a lush landscape of enviable green grass from taking root.
So these smaller stones were hauled away along with a "dinosaur tooth" or two.
Now the work of planting grass could begin. As I gathered the tools to prep the soil, more rocks had moved in, unfortunately they were smaller than the last batch.
Eventually enough rocks and fossils were removed for grass to grow, but even today I am constantly finding insidious little rocks pushing through the dirt.
I was reminded of this story while studying to teach John 3 in our Adult Church school class.
In John 3, Jesus talks to Nicodemus about exposing himself to the light as part of life in the kingdom of God:
"But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen..."Light has a way of revealing defects, and like my upturned front lawn, we first see the big boulders, those things that are not only obvious to us, but even those around us.
Once cleared, the light reveals more that wasn't noticed until the large defects were removed. And the task continues as more and more sins are revealed and excavated from our life.
This is why the saints, who seem beyond sin in our eyes, bemoan their own defects. We don't feel like such large sinners because we only see one or two of the big rocks. But they never leave the light, having cleared the boulders, they see fields of small pebbles.
"For everyone who does what is hateful, hates The Light and does not come to The Light, lest his works should be convicted."
Theron Mathis
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