COMPOST HAPPENS

Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed. . . . other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times. ~Mark 4:3,8

There’s an ongoing miracle happening in my backyard. I still can’t figure out how it happens. I put garbage into a garbage can. Six months later, I open the can and dump out good soil. Compost happens. All we do as a family is collect organic matter from our kitchen, stuff we’d normally put down the garbage disposal or throw out in the trash. All this organic matter gets collected in plastic containers in our kitchen. Once those are full, we dump them into bigger containers on our back porch. Once those bigger containers are full, we take them forty steps to the corner of our forested yard and dump them into the black compost cans.

How to make your own home compost center:
1) Get a plastic garbage can with a lid.
2) Drill holes in the can to allow air and moisture in, as well as to welcome the earthworms.
3) Place this can in a shady spot in your yard, making sure to secure the lid with a bungey cord or rope to keep racoons and other critters.
4) Place leaves and small sticks into the bottom to allow the first layer to breathe.
5) Begin dumping your kitchen organic matter into your compost can. Include any veggie throw away items, such as rinds, peelings, stems, eggshells, and such.
6) Do not put nutshells, cherry pits, apricot pits, avocado seeds, or bones in your compost. Also, do not include any animal product such as meat, fats or skin.
7) Every few months, turn the mixture with a shovel.
8) If you live in a dry climate, you might want to water down the mix now and again.
9) Some people will add lime or other organic composting mix products to help the process. I leave it up to God’s good processes of nature.
10) After about six to nine months, you’ll have some good soil as mentioned by Jesus in the parable of the sower.

Compost happens. In our lives, we get hit with various kinds of garbage, throw away bits and pieces, and unpleasant stuff that just comes along. What we choose to do with all this stuff can make all the difference in how we live each day. Try putting all the garbage that comes along into your spiritual compost can. Throw all that smelly garbage into the pit. Put a lid on it. Let God transform it. God works miracles by turning our fears, troubles, sufferings, stupidities, and disappointments into good soil. Holy composting!

Every now and again, we are wise to go open that smelly lid and repent of the stuff we’ve caused to others, repent of the stupid things we’ve said or done, repent of the choices we’ve made. Repenting is merely turning over the compost pile and allowing God to continue working out his holy miracle. After time, God heals and transforms our dark, smelly lives into good soil, soil he’s making ready to receive the seed of the Word of God, intended to be planted into our lives to make us and all around us more fruitful.