THE PLOW

Somewhere in the annals of time our ancestors, by accident or design, discovered the plow.  We can look at it as perhaps a fairly recent modern innovation because of history and some of the great paintings that show workers poking holes in the ground with sticks and dropping in seeds or tubers. It is also thought that when the knights came back from the holy pilgrimages in the east, that they turned their swords and shields into plowshares.  If they did, then they advanced forward from fruitless wars and into cultivating the land.  Also, the words of turning their "swords into plowshares" is Biblical in context.

The earth is a lot more productive if the soil can be turned, the weeds buried, and the ground made ready to receive the seeds and tubers.  Every gardener knows that even though there are varies ways to prepare the soil and get it ready for growth and the production of the fruits of our labor,  they also know that a plowman's job is not easy; it is work.  It is the thoughtful planning and investiture of time, labor, love, and a vision of the results of a hopeful harvest.

Our souls-spirits- are like a good garden.  We have to plow deep, discourage the weeds and unwanted growths, plant the seeds, nourish the soil and diligently remove the weeds that want to invade and take over our gardens.  This too, is hard work; more than difficult so frequently, that a lot of would be gardeners will just give up and join the weeds or not attend to the needs of the gardens.  This of course, is an analogy of the spiritual care and attention needed for personal growth and the increased production  of the "food for the soul" 

How will my garden be judged?  I don't know.  I hope my little garden will slowly put forth a few floweres here and there. My innermost self is holpfully growing, producing  and maybe even sowing a seed on fertile ground once in a while. But the soil is rocky and the ditches deep, the clay is non-pourous-poor soil for growing anything other than a few weeds.  "The harvest is great, but the workers are few."

We all have weeds(faults) in our gardens; I know I do.  I try to "root" them out and get rid of them, but like all persistent weeds, they tend to re-assert themselves.  But the more you cultivate, prune and nourish the spirit of your garden, the better it becomes.  Eventually...with the careful casting out of stones and the amendments to the clay, something worth growing will sprout and flourish.

I hope this post makes sense to anyone who reads it.  If not,
let me know.  Sometimes it is easier to write in the form of an analogy and have it understood...sometimes not.  I don't always give references for the quotations, but I think most readers are familiar with them and know where to look for them...The Bible.  Rev up your Weed Eater.

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