The gardener at the Miksh house in Salem keeps a compost pile. He also grows the most beautiful assortment of vegetables, herbs, fruits and flowers. In fact, that garden is gorgeous.

I love taking the young students to see the gardens. The gardener enthusiastically shares his knowledge with the children. I also love to show the kiddos the compost pile.

Why? Because it’s cool to show them that there is a safe and natural way to fertilize the soil. Plus, kids love poop. In their world it’s a conversation stimulant.

If I were to dig through that pile – and I won’t- I’m guessing I would find the mess of dead things, past dinners, scraps and scattered feline deposits all stacked on top of each other. Garbage, really – but when all the messy past is piled up and sprinkled with Time it becomes the best fertilizer. And those gardens could not hold such beauty and nourishment if it weren’t for the dead and messy scraps of the past.

Fertile, the root word of fertilizer, duh, means to make fruitful. And boy is that garden full of fruit.

So the next time I lament over the ugly, messy, dead things in my past, I’ll think about compost. Without those leftovers, I would not be fruitful person I am today. All of that garbage actually prepped my heart for growth. Yup, it stunk to high heaven when I was wading through it, but Time and Holy Spirit changed the composition to fertilizer. He makes ALL things work together for good. Now the scent of life takes its place.

… God said unto them, BE FRUITFUL, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat… And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. (Genesis 1:27-31 KJV)