Good morning, beloved in the Lord!
Humility — authoritatively derived from humus, earth, soil.
Part of the wonder if living in the Piedmont of the once mighty Appalachian massif is the variable quality of the soil. When I moved here 28 years ago, my first job was, no kidding, laboring in a Vineyard. Specifically we planted about 7 acres of vines. We used transplanting spades - all metal. You jam it in the earth, put the vine in the hole, then jam the spade a little behind the hole and rock it forward the compress the soil around the vine. Then step off a few feet and do it again. And again. And again.
In some spots, the soil was so clayey that it was hard to get the spade in. 10 feet away, in what I supposed was another part of the ancient river bed, it was so loose you could bury the bar just by rocking it back and forth.
On my place, which has been settled since the late 17th century, the soil is so compacted that parts of my alleged lawn will not permit a shrub to grow, only grass and moss.
But in most places if you dig a good hole and put the shrub in, it will grow, but VERY slowly at first. Near the porch I planted a Japanese boxwood (Buxus microphylla japonica) about 6” tall. It was a “volunteer” at my parents’ place.
For 3 years it just sat there. It was clearly alive but it seemed not to grow at all. Then, finally, it took off. Now it’s a yard high and vigorous.
I conclude that all the time when it looked like nothing was happening, it was devoting all its energy into sending roots downwards and outwards.
You can make the requisite analogy. May God grow in the soil of our hearts, and one day blossom and set fruit and finally drop it in a world so sorely in need of Him.
LOL!
NC red clay will do that to you. I love the stuff, though. Especially when it's full of mica. Grows great potatoes.
So, if I root deep enough I can become a potato or a tobacco. (Somehow I don't think that's the point of your lesson.)
Just kidding, MD. Excellent lesson. Thx.
“May God grow in the soil of our hearts, and one day blossom and set fruit and finally drop it in a world so sorely in need of Him.”
Amen...and AMEN!
PS. My hubby will be teaching RCIA too. May God grant you both HIS wisdom and fruitfulness in that work.
As is "human", IIRC -- which should tell us something! ;-)
What a beautiful post. Thank you.