A Dirty Day

I am sore.

And because I am sore, I realize just how much of a sedentary lifestyle I lead. Sure, my job requires me to be on my feet for most of the ten hours I’m there, and many nights require a lot of physical labor, depending on the work load.

But on “my” time, I don’t do a great deal of what could be called “physical” labor.

I say that heavily to my shame because one of the very first things God does to man is to put him in the garden so that he may tend to and keep it.

That purpose has never been rescinded. Even when man was expelled from the garden in Eden (the garden wasn’t Eden; the garden was in Eden), God makes it clear that man was still to tend to the earth — if not, then the curses leveled against man wouldn’t seem all that bad at all. 

Today, I finally started to step into that curse so that I may redeem my portion of the garden.

And I’m sore.

Perhaps I could have saved myself a lot of work by using our electric hedge trimmer, but why bother with that when a manual trimmer works just as well? (“Simplify, simplify.” — Henry David Thoreau)

And perhaps I could have driven to Walmart to buy the aforementioned trimmer, but I instead chose to walk. I don’t think I’ve walked that much all at once in at least a couple of years.

At least, that’s the impression I’m getting from my legs’ protests.

But I made quite a bit of progress in our front yard today. I cleaned out one of our flower beds so that I can finally do something with it. I trimmed back some vines that were looking like they’d take over our porch if left to themselves, and I managed to get rid of one of the rogue rose bushes.

I’m sore, but I feel good.

I feel as though today was a turning point for me, at least insofar as my responsibility to the earth goes. I’ve been talking about wanting to do something with the yard for years; today, that faith has begun to show signs of life!

Earlier, before the yard project got underway, I ordered a composting bin. I’m excited to know that I’ll be able to do something productive with our food scraps; although, we do have several heaps of yard waste — vines, twigs, weeds, and so forth — that will likely be used to get our compost started.

It’s been fifteen or more years since I’ve handled rich, hot soil from a compost bin. If you’ve never felt it, then I simply point out that you are missing out on something amazing, not even taking into account the awesomeness of getting superb soil out of a bin formerly filled with food and nature’s scraps!

Tending to your part of the garden… Just one of the many virtuous things we Christians should claim, and when we do so, we follow the example of our Father, the primordial planter of all that grows.