buried treasure...

"there is no shortage of things in life that cause you to bury your heart and soul..." this statement echoed in my heart as i read the pages leading up to this conclusion. did you ever pick up a book one day only to set it aside and seemingly pick it up at "just the right time?" this has been one of those books. it has one of those composite titles that implies you can wrap up the sum of life's choices in 9 tidy principles, which i usually hesitate to gravitate to - but in this case it was the reality and bluntness of the principle titles that enticed me...still, however, i can't seem to move beyond the first principle - uniquely entitled "dig it up" for the mere fact that it resonates alongside the place where i have found myself reflecting most recently.
there's a brief story of two girls - both had similar childhoods and found early on the fascination for building and art. one was nurtured in her desires, taught discipline in her schoolwork and the other discouraged, convinced by those around her that her dreams were small and insignificant. the one became a great architect, ironically what i always dreamed of being, seeing my ideas come to life in wood and stone and brick; the second, never had clear direction in her life, she went to school, but never pursued her passion for building...both had beautiful buildings inside their soul waiting to come out, but would the second girl's ever see the light of day? what are the beautiful buildings in my own life? are the visible and tangible, or still invisible with potential?
when did i lose touch with those things i always dreamed of doing? when did i bury my own passion, or potential, or desire for the sake of fear, or acceptance, or lack of acceptance? when did the invisible things of my soul from which everything visible is created cease making their way to the outside world?
the Lord gracefully gives us all the opportunity "to dig it all up" and once we have chosen to do so we then can do one of two things with it - sow it, or throw it away...obviously when we reach down or back and pull up those good things that have been buried - a dream, a talent, or desire - we want to see it grow so we must find an outlet to sow it, plant it, water it, fertilize it. however not all we dig up is good, there are hurts, anger, cynicism, loss, grief - those things may be painful, ugly - those we should throw away - by processing them, asking and allowing the Lord to heal it, grieve it or repent of it. just as in the parable of the talents, two stepped out with the gifts they were given and took risks, increasing what they were given - one allowed fear to keep him from stepping out, burying his gift, not only to fail to increase what he had been given, but to actually lose it in the end. we all have places of both in our lives, but we still can choose what we do with those.

you see we are growing a garden in your heart; some things you wish to increase, and others you need to weed out. either way requires caretaking, this is your job as guardian of your own heart, which the Lord mentions many, many times in His Word to guard our heart with all dilligence; there is very little growth and reward in life without taking risks...avoidance of risk however is the greatest risk of all.
I challenge you to become aware of whatever is in your heart and "dig it up", weigh it, deal with it, talk it through, pray about it, until you know, with wisdom, exactly what you need to do with it, and then take action.
one more thought rings true:
"there are no benign tumors of the heart - they all spread cancer into their visible world where they destroy all that one is trying to build - relationships, reaching goals, happiness and fulfillment. no matter what a person is trying to accomplish, if he is walking around with unresolved matters of the heart, his life will be negatively effected." my ultimate purpose is to glorify God, and if that being my ultimate purpose don't you think He has the ability to take all those buried things and turn them into treasure that will help someone else? I do.