Consider this story:
A woman went to her potting bench to plant a maple tree. She took out a clay pot, opened up a large bag of skittles® candies and poured them into the pot. She picked up the tiny tree and releasing it from its pot she spread out its roots to air them and help them reach out and grow into the "skittle® soil" and planted it hoping its leaves would be as fresh and enjoyable as the skittles. She took her watering can and watered it thoroughly and set it on her windowsill to take advantage of the bright sunlight. Days later she noticed the tree was withered and dry. The skittles® were not as fresh and bright as they were the first day but now more white and mushy. She watered it more but nothing helped and the tree finally died. When she tipped the pot into the garbage to empty it out, a large white clump of gooey candy fell out with a dead plant sticking out of it.
Now to consider planting a maple tree in skittles® seems quite absurd but I want to share some interesting spiritual truths from this modern look at a soil parable. In Psalm 1:3 God says that we are supposed to be "like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither..." Does our story exemplify this verse? Yes, the maple was firmly planted in those skittles®, there were streams of water but there was no fruit in season and the leaves did wither.
As a gardener, I have learned over many seasons of planting, that the conditions of the soil will largely determine the outcome of the growing of the plants. If the soil holds too much water, the plants will likely drown just as if it is sandy it won't hold enough water and be too dry and the plant will wither and die. Consider the maple tree's soil. Skittles® when watered will lose their color leaving behind a sticky white gooey mess. This goo will stick to your teeth as well as the roots of this plant eventually holding it fast in this pot, unable to escape its grip. This is just like when we get caught in the grip of ungodly habits in our lives. We get so caught up in them and we cannot let go because they attract us like those colorful sweet skittles®. More often than not, we end up giving in to even more of the same sinful habit because we cannot let go of it, we end up heaping even more "skittle® soil" into the pot, hoping to become happy and fulfilled when all we get is a hollow emptiness in the end that leaves our soul withered and dead.
When the living water rushes over the "soil" in this pot we notice that the colors run out into a dirty brown ugly mess leaving behind the sticky white goo of the sugar, gripping onto the roots of the plant. Likewise, we seek God's living Word to quench our thirst and help to break us free from the grip of the sin we have allowed into our lives. When that water rushes over us, it begins to wash away the colorful candy coating of the sin, revealing the true ugliness of the chains that have gripped us and showing us how we are in dire need of being planted in the true soil of a relationship with God in Jesus Christ. Then we are faced with the choice of returning to the colorful skittle® habit or facing that ugly habit and getting rid of it.
One would then tend to think that we just have to work harder to get that sin out of our lives to free ourselves from it. To be disciplined enough to quench it and sadly this takes the focus off the Master Gardener. The maple tree all alone, cannot wrench itself out of this sticky mess. For even if it could somehow manage to jump out of the pot on its own, it would still be stuck with goo on its roots and dying. The plant, like our spirit, needs the Master Gardner's hand to remove it from the mess, to wash off all the muck of sin and plant it in the true healthy soil of a relationship with Him for it to take root and be fruitful. The real decision then is do we let the Master free us from our sin or do we continue to cling to it trying in vain, in our own power, to free ourselves from its grip, yet unable to let go of the rush?
And then there's the sunlit window. God always shines his light in every person's life. Second Peter 3:9 says "The Lord is ... not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance." He wants everyone to bask in His light. But to truly live, you have to be rooted in a relationship with Him or you may as well be living in a dark room. Staying rooted in the sinful habits we choose to allow in our life will cause our soul to wither and die.
What are the”Skittles®” in your life?
Perhaps you are gripped by lust, food, drugs, video games, alcohol, television, money, power . . .
Only you and God can truly know the grip of sinful habits in your life. The only way to free yourself is to let Him uproot you, clean you off no matter how painful that may be and let go as He does. Are you willing?
Skittles®: Colorful bits of sugar. Sugar that gives a rush of satisfaction in taste, followed by energy given to the body, followed by a crash which gives the urge to eat more to have more energy, followed by a continued empty hunger for real food.
Sinful Habits: Habits that on the outside seem colorful and inviting, sweet to the taste and giving one the rush of pleasure to partake of it, followed by the urge for more to have more and experience more, followed by a continued empty hunger for a real relationship with God.
