Dear Family and Friends,
Someone told me it might be a good idea to start a blog and chronicle all of my adventures (warning-for those of you looking for something exciting to read, leave now; this blog may bore you to tears!).
Okay, so to start things off, I should explain the name of my blog. People who know me fairly well know that I have a passion for gardening and in particular, compost. I like to look for parallels in the Bible and the Christian life that I can relate to what I am learning in the garden.
So, I have this theory that my life and all other Christians lives are in many ways like compost piles. God is our master gardener if you will, and we are His compost piles which are turned by His divine pitchfork. We start out as compilations of refuse; the leftovers and cast-offs. God takes these piles and inoculates us with nitrogen or the Holy Spirit. We then begin to heat up and start a transformation process that will be a slow and painful one. Because you see, a compost pile is only good if it decomposes, if it dies. All the while that the gardener (God) is turning and shaping us as piles, we are slowly dying to what we were and transforming into something new and so much better: the black gold of finished compost. The transformation comes with difficulty-suffering is the key element (i.e. the material must break down in order to decompose; I Peter 1:6-7 "In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith-more precious that gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire- may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ).
Sometimes (as I have learned by experience) the compost piles slow down or stop in the middle of this breaking down process. By turning the piles again, adding new inoculate, and watering the piles down, the process can be fired back up. I know as a pile that I get comfortable and just want to stop in the middle of my transformation but by God's grace, I am gently turned again, re-kindled by the Holy Spirit, and watered with His Word. This gives me much to hope and rejoice in because you see, I don't want to remain in my unfinished, putrid state but press forward to become that which is good-smelling and complete (believe me, finished compost smells fantastic-you can smell LIFE). And I have assurance that my Gardener won't leave my pile unfinished "And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ" Philippians 1:6.
The best part about being a compost pile is that we have that ultimate example of what a compost pile is supposed to look like in Jesus Christ. He became a compost pile and became the perfect finished product through decomposition (i.e. His suffering and death) "For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering" Hebrews 2:10.
So why do we as compost piles desire to become perfect and complete products of compost? What is the purpose? Well, if you think about it, all the praise and honor for a banner batch of compost does not go to the compost pile does it? We don't stand looking down on a pile saying "Oh what a good little pile you are, you did so good at turning yourself into rich humus". That would simply be ridiculous. No, all the honor and glory and praise goes to the gardener-he who worked over that pile, turning and stimulating it until it becomes the product he planned for it to be in the beginning. The number one reason then, is to bring glory and honor to our beloved Gardener. The other purpose for becoming nutrient rich humus is so that life may spring forth from us. Think about it: we start out as refuse, decompose and die and are reborn as life-containing and life-giving compost. The great part about finished compost is that when a new pile is started, some of the old is added in to give it a boost of micro and macro nutrients (aka LIFE).
Anyways, enough of my sermon on compost and life...that's just the tip of the iceberg BTWs. This whole explanation is just to explain why I gave my blog its name! Hope you enjoy!