Dirt by Mary MarantzEsimerkki

Day Two Dig Down Deep Scripture: Psalm 30:11; Psalm 77:19; Romans 8:28 In any life, there will be some scenes we want to delete. Some that we want to fast-forward through or rewind to get right. There are scenes we’re afraid will be too hard for other people to look at. Scenes that we’re afraid will end up hurting someone else if we include them in the final edit at all. But here’s what I know: those parts of us that we want to hide, that we wish we could bury below the surface far away from the light, praying for transformation. Those things we think will make people turn their faces away from us in some sort of sympathy shame on our behalf, for better or worse, those things help make us who we are. We need to roll up our sleeves and get busy about the work of digging into that. We need to get our hands into it. Feel the hard ground break up and shake loose at our unflinching willingness to hold on. To look closer. To see what we didn’t see before. Because sometimes you have to dig down to get to the good part. When I look back on my life, I have a decision to make. Will I see only mud on the surface, or will I also see the miracle underneath? Will I believe that all along I was alone in it, that it really was always up to me to do for myself? Or will I believe that Someone else was always there holding my hand? A face that drew close to mine and never once turned away. Questions: How has the dirt and pain of your own life helped make you who you are? When have you sensed God with you, even though circumstances were difficult?