Surprise! Look what I dug up!
there's always something to be grateful for even amidst the muck & the mess
Some folks celebrate the arrival of autumn by draping their awaiting fireplace mantels with gorgeous garlands. Grabbing a luscious pumpkin spice latte on their way to work. Lighting up a fragrant apple cinnamon candle. Or maybe heading to the local pumpkin patch to do some heavy duty harvesting.
Not me. I welcome these golden days by working on my compost pile.
Turning it. Sifting through it. Tossing the sticks and leaves that have no interest in being there. Digging out the black gold that’s miraculously morphed from all manner of rotting kitchen debris, vacuum contents, disintegrated garden castoffs, and plenty of salvaged coffee grounds.
Working this potential soil enhancer is one of my therapies of choice.
So imagine my recent delight when this shiny piece of confetti showed up as I was shoveling the fruit of my labors into a couple buckets.
It’s been years since I sprinkled these little metallic goodies into every birthday card I sent. (I stopped because my people were whining that they had to pick them off the floor or the dog ate them. Whatever.) The point is that I have absolutely no clue how this blast from the past ended up among remnants of egg shells and moldy scraps.
The lesson wasn’t lost on me. The striking gift of grace from God that enables us to ferret out the serendipitous or praiseworthy right in the middle of rotten, stinking circumstances.
*
I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him.” The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
For no one is cast off by the Lord forever. Though He brings grief, He will show compassion, so great is His unfailing love. For He does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone.
- Lamentations 3:19-26, 31-33
*
What kernels of joy are coming to light in your life … yes, right in the midst of the messy, the disappointing, the grief and the tears?
Linda
I’m lifting my tea mug to CELEBRATE you and your delectable compost. I abandoned composting a lot of years ago because the skunks were so enamored of it, but a litter of skunks was born somewhere on the property this summer and I can’t blame them on a compost pile, so I may just go back into the dirt making business again…
I love this, Linda! God always redeems what the "locust" have eaten. This lesson has been a constant refrain murmuring in the background of my life. God is good. All the time. God is good. Blessings!