We all have our unbeautifulnesses. Today, I’m calling them ugly. But there’s a metaphor for transforming them: composting.
Watch the 7:21 video or listen to the podcast episode—but don’t miss the other images in this blogpost.
God is the supreme composter. This is why believers who strive for self-mastery over their ugly can: believe and rejoice! This is step one.
Step two. Allow divine spirit to transform your mind. Welcome it (it’s already there). Extend hospitality, give time to contemplate, worship, or find other ways to let the mind be supple and open to the wonderful work that is going on. The Chinese philosopher Mencius tells a parable about a man who impatiently wanted his rice plants to grow, so he pulled on them and they withered and died. (But some folks don’t even bother to weed.)
Step three. Believe the divine promises. For example, “Happy are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” What? You’re not hungering and thirsting—desperately or joyously? Rx: you need an on-ramp. Here’s one. Whet your appetite for righteousness by considering the qualities that you admire in your friends.
Step four. Be realistic about the varieties of ugly that silently or not-so-silently lie in the human heart. In different individuals, some of the ugly is activated more than the rest of of it. Said Jesus, ““From within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.”
Step five. This is where we do our part in composting.
With the faith of a child, when you sense the ugly stirring in you, stop, recognize, and focus.
Step six. Compost the ugly by rechannelling the energies that are configured in clusters that are not true, beautiful, and good. And do all this as part of your quest for perfection in the love of God.
Step seven. In this way, we grow and qualify to join the world-wide composting team of those who overcome evil with good, and take out the garbage in a way that brings closer the moral and spiritual planetary awakening.
All three of the image files above are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
Photo by Goyojona. Compost (Abonoorganica, fertilizer) https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8e/Compost_.jpg/320px-Compost_.jpg
Compost: young boy putting large clump of leafy something into a composter https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fermes_pedagogiques_compost.png
Photo by Tiia Monto https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f6/Garbage_truck_in_Tbilisi.jpg/214px-Garbage_truck_in_Tbilisi.jpg
