A Little Dirt Never Hurt Anyone!

Monday, February 25, 2008

This will be a short post as my "to do" list is soooo long these days. I have been doing a little hand sewing in the evenings, mainly working on my Memory Book pages, but not a lot since other chores abound. Tomorrow is Sewing Bee day and hopefully I will get some productive work accomplished there that I can post for you.


As I mentioned in my last post, I headed out to pull some weeds. Here in coastal Texas we have dirt which we refer to as "gumbo". It has a lot of clay in it which is rough for roots to maneuver through. Over the years, I have added layer after layer of mushroom compost and other good stuff to my flowerbeds to improve the quality of the soil. But, there are still outlying areas of the beds that have gumbo. The best time to pull weeds is after a rain because they come up much easier, especially from "gumbo". Hence, the picture... and, you didn't believe I really got that dirty! I pull weeds one day, then rest a day (the old bones do creek and ache a bit afterwards!) Of course I did not show my face! Beet red, no makeup, dirt smudges - I think not! Too scarey! After all, I do hope you come back to visit me here :-)

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My Bible Study lesson and today's devotional had wonderful, encouraging, yet convicting, words today. In my Matthew study of Chapter 18, humility and forgiveness are the major themes. Jesus speaks about stumbling blocks to both humility and forgiveness. Yikes - stumbling blocks, I have plenty of those myself unfortunately, and I certainly don't want to be a stumbling block for others. Looking at oneself to identify stumbling blocks is not an easy thing for sure - I am human after all. But, identifying my stumbling blocks will enable me to improve my character and my heart. After all, it is the condition of the heart that either allows or disallows things such as humility and forgiveness and we reveal the condition of our hearts through out actions and how we treat others. I have identified quite a few things I need to work on; pride, laziness, time-management, lack of discipline.

Pride or self-righteousness is a stumbling block that can blind a person from even seeing the need for humility and repentance. I must admit that pride can creep in before I know it - it is so easy to think I know better. A question did pop into my mind this morning with regard to these scriptures, however, - what if by insisting I know better, I have caused someones faith not to be strengthened by letting them exercise faith in their circumstance? Wow, this just emphasizes to me, my need for God's discernment in my life every day. So, I have asked God to help me to continue identifying and removing my stumbling blocks and improve the "soil" of my heart.

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2 comments:

allie aller said...

God loves to grant requests like that, I am sure! Thanks for the inspiration, Jules.
Our neighbor just delivered a truckload of rotted horse manure/hay...right next to the door in the fence into my garden. I fully expect to get as dirty as you soon, wheelbarrowing my loads onto my beds, and will love every minute of it!

Judith said...

Hi Jules, you are doing something really special with your blog and I love coming on over to see what you are upto and look at your beautiful photographs. Please let us see the results of all your work when the time is right. I especially love to read about your walk with our Lord. I really look forward to our visits.
Hugs
Judith

 
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