Troubles of Rocky Rubble

As you may know now if you've been with me for awhile, I love gardening. But I have to be honest with you, this particular year has been a year fraught with obstacles. We moved back to Pennsylvania and of course I wanted to put in a garden. So, I had a very good friend bring his Rototiller to my house and proceed to turn over a plot of land that had never been turned over before. It was a relatively small plot but nonetheless it took him several hours to turn it over. As it turns out, the ground is severely rocky. The soil looks exquisite and rich and perfect for garden soil but “ugh“the rocks are beyond belief. Between the rain making the ground constantly soggy and the rocks making it feel like I was digging into concrete, well it’s been a tough year already. It seems that the elements are against me. The relentless rain and now the rocks. Never have I wanted to give up and walk away more but I look at the trays of vegetables that I have purchased and have been given and I just can’t do it! I know it will be rewarding but the obstacles are almost too much to bear.

As is the case in every scenario of my life there’s a lesson or a story to be told. As I hoed the soil this morning and the rock completely bent the tine of my hoe in half I couldn’t help but hear a voice saying “keep going, it will be worth it in the end I promise you”! Well, whether that was God revealing his extreme great sense of humor or whether it was my internal “never say die” voice, it really doesn’t matter. The lesson here is loud and strong. We will have obstacles in our path in this life. We will have roads of rock and rubble and trouble that try to bend us like the tines on my hoe or break us. In this life we will have trouble, guaranteed! But my word of the year and actually word of my life if I were to be honest,  is “perservere”. It says in Romans 5 ““And not only this, but [with joy] let us exult in our sufferings and rejoice in our hardships, knowing that hardship (distress, pressure, trouble) produces patient endurance; and endurance, proven character (spiritual maturity); and proven character, hope and confident assurance”. 

So, when you’re in the middle of your “rocky rubble” or troubles, just hang in there! Keep pressing in through the rocks and obstacles and stay focused on the end goal. It WILL produce something in you that is good and wonderful. You will become stronger and learn to handle those troubles with a new determined maturity the next time you face them. Your character will be built up and “sured up” and reinforced for the next bump in your road. My tine (my spirit) my be bent but my previous trip down rocky roads has caused my character to persevere on! 

So, rejoice and be glad if you will and actually give thanks for those “troubles of rocky rubble”! Now, I’m off to hammer out the tine of my hoe and pick up the rocks. This story will be continued and my garden will thrive, I’m sure if it! Stay tuned. . . .