Catalyst For Growth

Today’s Post By: Rae Lynn DeAngelisManure, dung, droppings, excrement. They are all labels for the same thing. For the sake of keeping my post PG, I’ll skip over the more offensive tags. (I’m sure you can fill-in-the-blanks on your own.)Without getting too graphic, it’s the left over waste material after nutrients are extracted from ingested food. No longer useful, the odorous byproduct is eliminated.Where am I going with this?Hang with me. I actually do have a point.Humans, animals, plants, insects, and even microorganisms produce some sort of waste material. Some living things produce more waste than others. For example, the average cow produces 65 pounds of manure in a single day. Now that’s a lot of pooh!It’s amazing to think that something as noxious as manure could actually spawn growth in another living thing, and yet that’s exactly it does–a principle which holds true in both the physical realm, as well as the spiritual.Amazingly, God is able to take a lifetime of messiness in our lives and use it for good. Past mistakes become agents for growth in us as well as others.Unfortunately, the enemy would have us to believe otherwise. He tries to convince us that our messed up lives and painful life experiences are better off locked away in the dark recesses of our subconscious; and as a result, we hide behind carefully manufactured façades that imply we have it all together. We cannot unveil our imperfect lives because we fear what others might think. And because so many others are doing the same exact thing, we all end up with a warped sense of reality.If we claim we have not sinned