Grounding

If you know my grandpa Eugene Weber you know that he is actually one of the funniest, most random people you will ever meet. He is an ornery, shoot you straight type of guy—there is no one I respect more in this life than him. My grandpa is the hardest worker I know and the definition of a Weber if you know what I'm saying lol. On a real note, he is the most Godly man I've ever known, he has set the standard for any man that is to come into my life so high, but I'd be lying if I said he wasn't the most goofy person that I know. This Thanksgiving our whole family was inside eating and doing all the things people do on Thanksgiving when I realized he had disappeared from his recliner that he was usually asleep in with his hearing aids off by this time. I went outside to find him soaking up the sun with his shoes and socks off, toes quite literally in the grass. I of course was like what the heck is he doing but I wasn't shocked, as this was so in character for him to do. As I was walking toward him giggling I snapped a picture just for the memories. I then asked him what the actual heck he was doing he replied “I am grounding!” He then explained the scientific benefits of grounding and how I should join him but I just replied with the best place to get a pedicure. 

Looking back at this encounter with my grandpa I thought of the encounter Moses had with the burning bush. God called out to Moses and Moses replied “Here I am!” God then replied In Exodus 3:5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” I am currently going through the book Holy Vulnerability with the girl who disciples me and the chapter we read this week was titled Digging In The Dirt. The author talked about the importance of tending to the earth and touched on the story of Moses saying, “I once heard a pastor suggest that God didn't want Moses to come closer until he took his shoes off not because his sandals were dirty but so that Moses’s feet, his body, could touch the holiness. God didn't want any barrier between them.” He is everywhere in his creation. The sunsets, the rain, the mountains, the beaches, all the things we love to see and experience, He is in them and He wants us to experience them. It sounds odd but the truth is there is a connection between us and the place God has created for us to live. Genesis 3:19 says, “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” Caring for and tending to the earth is a way that God gave us to ground ourselves in Him and His creation. This doesn't mean that you have to go outside and pull a Eugene to feel connected with God, but it does mean that there's connection in more than just the mundane practices we do day to day. 

There's just something about the analogies that Christians come up with that makes me giggle and sometimes even cringe lol, but I would be lying if I said there weren't some that give me chills every time. One of my very favorites is when people compare our relationship with God to a gardener and his garden. In the book I was telling you about, the author compared gardening to a lack of control. She talked about how we can not grow a garden completely on our own. She writes “I can come to know my role and God's role. I can realize that these roles are different and that only God can do certain things.” Meaning we can tend the soil and plant the seeds but we need God to provide sunlight and rain. God doesn't need us but he still gives us purpose, the weeds will grow and if we don’t pull them they will overtake the garden, it is our job to remove the weeds from the garden so the fruit can grow. God isn't going to pull the weeds for us, He's not going to do all the work. Currently, at BCM we are going over the fruits of the spirit. A couple of weeks ago our leader Paul talked about how gardeners don't cause growth, he said, “They are environment cultivators.”  Meaning we put the work in to create an environment where God can grow fruit. He said, “If you want to bear fruit, be a gardener.” We are in partnership with Him, it isn't a one-way street where He does all the work and we just sit back and watch. Being a child of God takes work, it is hard but we know that in the end, it is all worth it. Enjoy this beautiful mysterious place He has given us to live. Go on a walk, lay in the grass, and thank God for the ability to connect with His creation. Praise Him for the partnership He gives us with Himself. Tend to the soil, do the work, and ground yourself in the goodness of who God is. Pull a Eugene, but get a pedicure first. To God be the glory, always. Be the sunshine on someone’s cloudy day.

Good Talk,

Rylie With The Messy Life :)