Cultivate Your Soul

Yesterday the kids and I spent the afternoon with friends at Snead’s Farm near Massaponax.  What a GREAT time!  It just isn’t possible to choose one part that was my favorite.  There was an overall theme of really happy kids and relaxed mommies.  Kids LOVE being on a farm.

When a group of young kids is taken out to a farm where they can run free, funny things come out of their mouths and they do great stuff.  They are unbound, uninhibited and ready to have some serious fun.  What do they do and say?  Well, allow me to touch on some highlights (yes, I took a few notes…these were just too good not to jot down).

Unlimited fun at a farm includes things like chasing chickens, giggling, while the farm dog attempts to “herd” them all.  Sydney told the other girls “Come on!  Run like the wind!”  The boys worked until their fingernails had a crust of dark mud under them; leveraging large rocks up from the thick, wet dirt to create their own waterfall (they were successful).  I heard them walking through parts of the creek and laughing as the mud at the bottom squelched and made “tooting” sounds.  “Dude did you hear that?” was asked more than once while large smiles spread across their faces and laughter filled the air.  After one of the older boys tripped over a rock in the creek, I heard my friend’s young daughter ask “You OK, dude?”  There are rope swings hanging from trees.  Who doesn’t enjoy swinging as the summer air blows across your face?   One friend’s daughter yelled “YAHOO, this is the best day ever!”as she zoomed downhill, through the trees on the zipline. 

It’s not just the funny things they say though; it’s the imagination that gets growing on a farm.  They imagine foxes and wolves in the nearby woods; poisonous water snakes in the creek.  Quicksand is responsible for taking a missing flip flop. A horse’s nose feels as “soft as a blanket.”  Alligators must live near the bottom of the zipline.

Our picnic area sat abandoned underneath a big shade tree…there was just too much to see and do and explore to sit down and eat lunch.  Never once did any one of them ask to go home or check what time it was.  They were barefooted, shirtless, dirty, and happy.  They were truly free.

Being on a farm got me thinking too about all the work involved.  There must be hours of preparation just to get the fields ready for the crops.  Before the harvest is brought in, before the seeds begin to grow; there is preparation.  It seems the more work that goes in to the cultivation process (the preparation) the greater return.  As parents we spend a lot of time “cultivating” the character, the spirit, of our children.  But, what about ourselves?

I know in my heart that I need to spend time cultivating.  My cultivating is time learning about and listening to God.  When I do, my heart is opened wider.  What grows from that is a stronger faith, a healthier outlook on life and a more meaningful relationship.  I can’t expect to get a “good return” if I don’t spend time in preparation.

This isn’t a new outlook, but perhaps one that has deeper meaning to me now that I connected it to my own walk.  The cool part to me is all I have to do is open up…God is more than willing to help me do the work.

Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.  Psalm 37:3 (NASB)

Thanks for reading.