Dirt.
An independent study of bored humans comparing the beauty of dirt to other elements in nature will result in dirt rating well below things like: sunsets, waterfalls, snowbanks, mountains, wildflowers, trees. Dirt gets a bad rap.
Dirt, pretty much, treated like, well, dirt.
It’s ironic. If I was dirt, I can imagine I’d get frustrated. Without dirt wildflowers and those evergreens where all the snow drapes so beautifully on highly rated, majestic, mountains wouldn’t even exist. Not even a fat, squatty shrub.
Those apples you like – no can do. No dirt for the apple trees. Peaches – out of luck. Tomatoes, corn, french fries – sayonara, potatoes don’t grow in a desert.
It is effortless for us to overlook the value in dirt. Far from thinking dirt is beautiful, we actually equate dirt to ugly things.
Dirty.
Even toddlers will recognize dirty is not a nice word. Something to avoid. Dirt may be something that gets you into trouble. Worse yet, getting dirty may result in that dreaded bath.
Here is our problem, we look at dirt at the surface level.
We don’t appreciate dirt’s depth, the nutrients in that dark clump of moist soil that provide the ability for our food to grow; our plants to thrive; our flowers to bloom.
How like humans that is. First impressions based upon the beauty of a surface. Girls. Cars. Men. Clothes. House. Wealth.
How much we miss when we fail to look deeper. When we neglect to peer below the surface and recognize the value of riches lying just underneath. Like dirt, impressions have a tendency to spread. Influence more than we realize. We behave differently with someone based upon the outside view.
When is the last time you met a homeless person and invited them to coffee? Never?
When was the last time you met someone at church, school, a friend’s house party and made plans to see each other again? Much more frequently than never.
First impressions matter. How much are we missing in life because we aren’t taking the time to dig a little deeper. Know each other better. Take the time to invest in someone more.
Think about the many deserts in our lives we could convert to fields of wildflowers if we invested a tiny bit more time. If we looked at a person before glancing away. Recognized their potential. The value that person holds; the richness of life just below the surface she shares with the world.
Just maybe when we find ourselves taking that little bit of extra it takes to really get to know someone we will discover it’s not just them who are blossoming before our eyes, it’s also us discovering how wonderful it feels to grow.
check this out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iue-ox63diE
II Corinthians 10:15-18
What we’re hoping for is that as your lives grow in faith, you’ll play a part in our expanding work.
purelyjoyous living 