Vinedressing

Decidedly, a person is built from a real combination of heredity and experience. In the first part of life, you are placed in situations which are not really your choosing (like your family, childhood street, and grade school), but eventually you grow up and revisit some of these decisions. What college to attend? Where to live? Who to marry? Just as a seed falls onto the ground and sprouts, so do people -- except the "fruit" that God grows are people: "My Father is the vinedresser" (John 15:1).

Laugh if you must, but The Organic Gardener's Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control has this to say:

"Where soil tends to be very acidic, plants that like a low PH, such as blueberries and rhododendrons, will be much happier than plants such as asparagus and clematis, which require close monitoring and frequent application of lime when grown in very acidic soil" (p. 5).

Life being a garden, it is remarkable how many types of soil there are, but I find it even more remarkable how many good people have grown in toxic soil. Just as a rose may unexpectedly pop-up out of a desert of thistles, so may you just be doing that right now, silently and without announcement. Every man and woman seems to have a unique story of toiling and learning how to acclimate to life's acid and base.