Quotation Saturday ~ Nurture the Soul

Jonah 2:5 "The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head."

WEEDS

“Jesus said the weeds would grow with the wheat until the Judgement," Dietrich answered, "so one finds both good men and bad in the Church. By our fruits we will be known, not by what name we have called ourselves. I have come to believe that there is more grace in becoming wheat than there is in pulling weeds.” 
― Michael Flynn

“Don't let the tall weeds cast a shadow on the beautiful flowers in your garden.” 
― Steve Maraboli

“A man of words and not of deeds, 
Is like a garden full of weeds.” 
― Benjamin Franklin

“The strongest and most mysterious weeds often have things to teach us.” 
― F.T. McKinstry

ROOT

“The general root of superstition : namely, that men observe when things hit, and not when they miss; and commit to memory the one, and forget and pass over the other.” 
― Francis Bacon

“If we are the trees, words are our roots; and we grow as we write” 
― Munia Khan

“Spiritual counselling is helping people find the deep root of stillness in themselves, which is also a connection to everything else.” 
― Jay Woodman

“Listen to the trees as they sway in the wind.

Their leaves are telling secrets. Their bark sings songs of olden days as it grows around the trunks. And their roots give names to all things.

Their language has been lost.

But not the gestures.” 
― Vera Nazarian

NURTURE

“Be the one who nurtures and builds. Be the one who has an understanding and a forgiving heart one who looks for the best in people. Leave people better than you found them.” 
― Marvin J. Ashton

“the seriousness of emotional deprivation:

It is not difficult to understand how children who have suffered from malnutrition or starvation need food and plenty of care in their bodies are to recover so they can go on to lead normal lives. If, however, the starvation is severe enough, the damage will be permanent and they will suffer physical impairments for the rest of their lives. Likewise, children who are deprived of emotional nurturing require care and love if their sense of security and self-confidence is to be restored. However, if love is minimal and abuse high, the damage will be permanent and the children will suffer emotional impairments for the rest of their lives.” 
― Mark Z. Danielewski

“Anthropocentric as [the gardener] may be, he recognizes that he is dependent for his health and survival on many other forms of life, so he is careful to take their interests into account in whatever he does. He is in fact a wilderness advocate of a certain kind. It is when he respects and nurtures the wilderness of his soil and his plants that his garden seems to flourish most. Wildness, he has found, resides not only out there, but right here: in his soil, in his plants, even in himself...
But wildness is more a quality than a place, and though humans can't manufacture it, they can nourish and husband it...
The gardener cultivates wildness, but he does so carefully and respectfully, in full recognition of its mystery.” 
― Michael Pollan

“By cultivating the beautiful we scatter the seeds of heavenly flowers, as by doing good we cultivate those that belong to humanity.” 
― Vernon Howard

NOURISH

“Suffering is imposed on us time and again so that one day we would become brave wise masters. That is, a strong being who is confidently aware of their intended direction in life, and fearlessly adding value to the world and their future.” 
― Suzy Kassem

“In many ways, life is about managing your delusions; keeping the ones that nourish and eliminating the ones that poison.” 
― Steve Maraboli

“I believe that all things are connected; that we’re interdependent on one another. I just like feeling the wind in my hair, the sun on my face, and the earth under my feet. It all nourishes me; my soul anyway.” 
― J.M. Northup

“Don't forget to pause and nourish yourself a bit along the way. When you're born to help others sometimes you forget to help yourself.” 
― Paula Heller Garland

SOUL

“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing 
and rightdoing there is a field.
I'll meet you there.

When the soul lies down in that grass
the world is too full to talk about.” 
― Rumi

“The soul is placed in the body like a rough diamond, and must be polished, or the luster of it will never appear.” 
― Daniel Defoe

“Rummaging in our souls, we often dig up something that ought to have lain there unnoticed. ” 
― Leo Tolstoy

“The soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts.” 
― Marcus Aurelius

Nurturing the Seed

Luke 8:14 And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection

A lot of times people walk on rubble filled roads. They stumble and feel their feet are on unsure footing but they keep walking. Trudging along a dirt path yet always looking up to see if the sun will lighten the path, dry out the rubble and help them get to where they are going to in warmth without sinking in the mud.

Have you ever walked this path? Walked, stumbled, picked yourself up, then walked some more. Yeah I think many of us have. It’s always nice when the sun is shining down, isn’t it and we have light to show us the way?

I oftentimes think of those who stumble as I myself have sunk in a few mud traps myself. But what pulled me out, what gave me the strength to go on, knowing there was mud holes everywhere just waiting for my feet? The Son.

A seed, when placed in soil is sunken into the depths of darkness that we humans might not understand. Sometimes we cling to the darkness and linger there. A seed knows better than us! It knows that when the warmth begins to surround it, the seed rears its head and perks up, it feels even the slightest ray of sunshine and it begins its ascent in reaching for that Light that calls it to rise.

When we get comfortable in the soil, the mud pits, whatever you wish to call the deep abyss we sink into when depressed or fallen on hard times, the dark is the only thing to warm us. What happens to a seed, unattended by light and water? It dies, just as the soul does when not nourished.

My friend has a beautiful picture of a Christmas cactus that she shared. I told her my mother has one about 15 years old. I thought that was pretty long but she reported that her friend has one that is 35 years old! Wow! Talk about endurance. Love and care is what makes these plants so hardy. They weather many changes, through drought tolerance and climate changes; the Christmas cactus is one of the many plants that are perfect examples of human life.

Many people say they have no luck with plants. Luck, really? It is not by luck that a plant thrives nor does ones soul find rejuvenation by luck. I can bet that those who have no ‘luck’ with plants are the pessimist and realist of society.

I myself, while having many plants around my home that have survived 11 years so far and are still growing strong, I could never get a handle on Miniature Roses. I’ve had many but they all seemingly died! And I took the same care of them as I did my other plants. What was wrong? Care! I wasn’t caring for the sensitive plant. Like my soul, I let it do its thing, watering and tending thinking this was all it needed.

Love, it needed love and light and it needed care. My experiment this year was with another miniature Rose; a tiny frame in a 2-inch pot. I set it on my windowsill. It was really loving the Light, water and pruning! Just like my soul, AHA!

Spring arrived and I got the best soil for it to be replanted, a much bigger pot and set it outside in the warmth of the sun. It didn’t like the heat of the midday sun, but it thrived in the morning sun. There it sat until the temperature changes in late August had me pulling my very full and beautiful roses inside.

The leaves began to fall almost immediately to the extent I had bare twigs. Instead of seeing it as dead as in other years, I saw it as reviving itself. Shedding the old, bringing in the new, the next month would show a resurgence of life and this very day it is still alive and has a rosebud on it.

Sometimes we give up on our souls and just let them do their own thing. I’m sorry people but that is just not good enough! You need to nurture and tend your soul with the very best you can give it. I choose the Word of God but that might not be for everyone. We need to find what our soul needs to grow and feed it, treat it well, lavish it with tender care and beauty and you’ll see it flourish, even in the darkest of times.