Toxic Soil
Be Careful Where Your Roots Are
Introduction
In this time of spring planting, I have been thinking about soil conditions as a metaphor for the places in which we plant our lives. Thank you for joining me in this issue of The Adventure of Reflection as I ponder toxins, soil, roots, and hydroponics as metaphors.
A Minute of Motivation
Body Pollution
Ever heard the expression: “You are what you eat?” That’s a scary thought if what you’re eating can be classified using my term, “body pollution.”
So many people are concerned about polluting the planet, and that is an important concern. But what about the millions of tons of pollution placed inside the human body each year? Collectively, we consume millions of pounds of sugar, millions of gallons of alcohol, countless cans of carbonated beverages, potful after potful of coffee, and untold tons of grease in French fries and hamburgers. We also inhale tremendous amounts of toxins from cigarettes.
The damage of pollution to the environment is obvious – unswimmable lakes and rivers, unusable landfills of garbage, and unbreathable air. The damage to the human body from body pollution is more subtle, but just as disastrous. Body pollution leads to decreased quality of life and, sometimes, decreased quantity of life as well. Put garbage into your body and you will feel tired and apathetic. Put enough garbage into your body and you may shorten how long it will last.
Your body is the only one you have, if you damage it, there are no “trade-ins.” Like using good quality gasoline for your car, put good quality fuel into your body and it will run smoother, last longer, and be less likely to need any major overhauls.
Note. Written in 1993 and preserved on dot-matrix printer paper. Published here because of the focus on toxicity and its short and long-term impacts. I only have a dozen remaining 30-year-old excerpts, as of yet unpublished in my newsletter. Soon I will be changing the structure and content as it is also getting harder to align these former writings with my new work.
Enjoy Life More
Treat Bitter Soil with Gratitude and Forgiveness
It is impossible to avoid being hurt by people and situations. Betrayal, rejection, and disappointment are a few of the experiences that create injury; these experiences produce toxic places in our memories. Who we are today has its roots in all that has happened in our past. The person of today has roots in all the wonderful and terrible days recorded in our minds and hearts.
Times of injury, recorded deep within us, can become toxic places from which the person you are today is anchored. Every time we revisit one of these places, we feed the roots embedded into toxic soil. Bitterness experienced today is increased by ruminating about times of injury and rehashing the pain; today’s roots are anchored in all of our yesterdays.
These roots anchored in bitter places are like weeds. We can pull a weed today, but it will easily reappear if the roots remain. Preventing regrowth of bitterness requires treating the soil itself and destroying the bitter places, like destroying roots for unwanted plants. Plants can be destroyed by a combination of vinegar and salt; bitter memories can be treated with forgiveness and gratitude.
Every injury is part of who you are today. Your ability to be compassionate towards those who are suffering is drawn from your own places of suffering. Being grateful for historic injuries and healing those places with forgiveness allows you to offer compassion for those in pain.
To enjoy life more, treat the bitter places in your past with gratitude and forgiveness. The person you are today is rooted in the person you have been in all of your yesterdays. Determine to be a better person because of everything you have experienced, not a bitter one.
Faith Corner
Paul said, “Be rooted in love.” (See Ephesians 3:17)
The past few years have been a season of “losing my place” at work. As parts of my professional world have fallen away, the roots of my professional self have been left bare and dangling. A friend sent an encouraging note in which she said that God is “stretching and challenging you as He replanted you in some new soil.” It is a beautiful message; the problem is that I had not been replanted, just un-potted.
As the soil dropped away from around me, leaving my roots thirsty and longing for a place to belong, I decided to become hydroponic. I am no longer searching for a place to “belong” in my professional world. Traveling with my own container of nutrient-rich water, my roots and I are learning to live independent of a place to belong.
What does this “hydroponic life” look like? Every day I rest my roots in a peaceful space rich with a bit of truth from my Bible and a quiet time of prayer. This “hydroponic time” nourishes my mind, heart, and spirit. Then I emerge, ready to function wherever the day takes me, not looking to be nourished by anyone or anywhere. I start the day not being thirsty for a place to belong.
Maybe this is what Paul wrote about two thousand years ago, as he prayed for the early Christians to “be rooted in love.” God is the source of love, as clearly displayed in the sacrificial life of Jesus. To be “rooted in love” could be rooted in a relationship with a person, but that’s not as secure as being rooted in the Almighty. Plus, the resources for nourishment are finite from a person, but unlimited from the Maker of our very souls.
Have you experienced a time of un-potting lately? Are there parts of your world that have fallen away, and your roots are feeling bare and dangling? I encourage you to try being hydroponic; placing your roots in the Living Water, the source of Infinite Love.
Dear Lord, thank You for being an unlimited source of all that I need to nourish my heart, mind, and soul. Help me to know that my roots need never be bare and thirsty because You are the Living Water into which I can be loved and nourished. Thank You for equipping me to be hydroponic, drawing all I need from You. Amen.
Poetry Pause
Toxic Soil
Thirsty roots
Only finding
eXactly what
Is
Caustic.
Surrounded by
Only bitterness;
I need to
Leave.
Better to have thirsty roots with no soil,
Than toxic soil.
By Cindy MacGregor, May 23, 2023
Note. I have been bitter about what has happened in recent years within my current work setting; a change of work context hurts my roots but is probably going to be better for me.
Old Mom to Young Mom
Soil is Important
A sad tale I have heard too many times is about how a child, raised in a good home, “fell in with the wrong crowd.” As a young adult the child, who had been given a solid foundation from which to be anchored and successful, chose to put roots in with friends who served as “toxic soil.”
I am so grateful this didn’t happen with any of our three children, all of whom chose well-adjusted spouses and supportive friends. Certainly, there have been some tricky choices along the way, but these were short seasons and not life-altering destructive paths. I don’t know if this means my husband and I did enough things right or we just “got lucky.” We have friends and relatives whose children have had dark, prodigal seasons during young adulthood. Some of those young people are still in those difficult times.
As an old mom to young parents, what advice do I have on this matter? Soil is important. Soil, as a metaphor, means all of those people and places with which you are trying to “grow” healthy, well-adjusted children. There is much about “soil” for growing children that parents can control, including the neighborhood around your home and the school your children attend. We paid the extra to have our children attend Christian preschool and elementary school through 8th grade. Then our children went to public high school where they told us there were “scary kids,” but our kids weren’t interested in hanging out with them. The soil in which we raised our children also was a church family where we regularly attended worship and events. We also made sure our children had opportunities to build relationships with extended family, including grandparents and cousins. These “soil” choices no doubt were helpful, but they’re not sufficient in assuring adult children who make their own good “soil” choices.
My advice to those of you who are actively “growing” your children is to wisely choose the soil in which your family is growing. From preschool through middle school children can be “potted” in a place of the parents’ choosing. Beginning in high school, as the teen pushes away from the parents, they may experiment with unhealthy friendships. Pray hard if this happens and seek wisdom in what to do. Some teens can be redirected; others will dig in their heels (i.e., roots) and rebelliously spend time with peers who are enticing them into trouble. At the first sign of danger seek wise counsel. If the roots get established in unhealthy soil the long-term consequences can be dangerously life-altering.
For parents whose adult children have chosen to live with “bad company,” work to maintain a relationship with your children. You can communicate a message of “I’m not sure this person is good for you” but love your child, now an adult, where they are. The “soil” in which they are living as adults is what they are choosing; parents are no longer in control. Having a child who, as an adult, is in an unhealthy relationship, is deeply painful for the parent. The heart of a parent is wired to help a hurting child and to rescue a child in danger, but that heart can sometimes only love from a distance. In the worst scenarios, the tangible love of the parent is rejected by the adult child. But prayer cannot be rejected. Send your prayers to the One who loves your child more than you do. And I pray you will be comforted and strengthened during this sad time.
Dear Dr. Mac
Dear Dr. Mac,
Yay!!! You're going back to psychology!!! How lucky are those students?! A professor very similar to you is the reason my undergrad degree is in psychology. I wanted to take all of her classes and major in something I found interesting. Psychology has proven to be a wonderful foundation for the course my life has taken so far. I hope this change in colleges brings you peace. I am so jealous I don't get to take a psychology class from you. I am sure it will be fascinating.
Have a wonderful week!
[signed] Laura
Hi Laura,
Thanks for your excitement! I have mixed feelings about it, but I think the change of environment will be healthy for me. Plus, I will be able to be back on campus, which I also enjoy. Thank you for your encouraging words! And, in a way, you ARE getting to take a class from me by subscribing to this newsletter.
[signed]
Dr. Mac
Dear Readers:
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