Digging up old ground

Shortly after my wife and I moved into our house in Louisiana, she had a vision of a backyard filled with azaleas. All I saw were weeds and branches, but she was convinced the “azalea vision” could become a reality. Needing help in this transformational project, I turned to my senior adult neighbor, Mr. Henry. He was the logical choice because he spent hours working in his immaculate yard.

He agreed to come by and take a look at my backyard and give me his opinion. To my chagrin, he agreed that my wife’s vision could become a reality, but first I needed to dig up the ground so the roots of the azaleas could go deep. The implement of choice would be a tiller, and he had one I could borrow. His tiller was not the small infomercial type; it was the “Boss Hogg” of tillers.

Mr. Henry gave me one quick lesson on tilling and warned me that once those blades hit the ground it had some power. When he offered to give me more instruction, I quickly said that none was needed. “I’ve got this,” I assured him. (Apparently Mr. Henry had watched me handle mechanical equipment in the past, and thus he stepped away about 30 feet.)

I cranked up that tiller, got those blades rotating and set it on the ground. It then took off with me hanging on! We were making a beeline for my deck, and all I could think was that I was going to chew up my entire deck. Luckily, I shut it down just before the steps. A smiling Mr. Henry asked, “Do you want that second lesson?” After agreeing to the second lesson, I began the tilling adventure. I tilled all the soil and planted the azaleas, and the vision was on its way to reality.

However, there was something interesting about the ground that I was tilling. As those blades dug deeper in the ground, they brought up things that had been buried for years. There were old cans, trash, roots and boards I never knew were there that had been buried in that hardened ground for years. It took the tiller to bring them to the surface and to remove them.

Hosea 10:12 says: “Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you.”

In your life, you might have some hidden and hardened attitudes: roots of bitterness, unforgiveness or prideful rebellion. There might be attitudes and feelings you have suppressed that have hardened you to others and to God.

If you live with events in your past that are painful to even think about, please accept by faith that it is worth the pain to dig them up and apply God’s word to them in order to be set free. A casual raking will not get the job done. You need to allow God to take the tiller to your life and dig up that old ground. There is an “azalea vision” awaiting you!