Garden of the Soul

The roots of sin run deep in our hearts. Sin, the act of forsaking God, leaves a deep root system that can take years to remove from the garden of the soul.

We sin once, we lie or cheat, we disrespect our parents or our children. We leave a hole where once a flower of grace grew. We are of a fallen nature, we choose to sin.

Sometimes at night my thoughts will drift, and I will begin a deep conversation with myself and my God. Last night was one such night. As I sat watching TV, my thoughts began to drift, to flout around the room. Like a snowflake drifting down from the heavens, going hither and fro. The moment was tranquil and bliss, life around me was dulled and only the outlines existence seemed to exist. I love moments such as this, they allow my thoughts to move me, to carry me away. And that they did. Last night my thoughts drifted to sin and how it takes root in our hearts.  An image of a tree appeared, a dead tree with no life, except it was still growing. The root system was digging deeper and deeper in to the soil of life, wrapping itself around the roots of the living life. Chocking and killing all it came in contact with.

The drifting mind was deep with symbolism and shadows, shadows of the heart, movements of the soul. The experience was short, but the impact was strong. It left me in a flurry of emotions and thoughts; it awakened my mind and saddened my soul. For I know I have such a root system in my heart, one that I keep feeding and fail to prune out the dead (bring out your dead!). A dead tree is growing in me, and I am allowing it to dig deeper and deeper in my heart, casting shadows over my soul.

Forgiveness, and kindness and the pruning shears I need, understanding and love are the tools of the trade. But I often times leave them hidden deep within, failing to use them.

It is a scary process, to dig in your own garden, to weed and prune. What if you cut a living root, what if what I thought was a weed was not, what if I leave behind a dead and decaying root? What if the garden that results is not the one I intended? All questions of the soul, the heart beats on in the new creation, a creation I do not know.

Sin makes deep roots our garden of the soul…

Paul