Photo by Mirko Fabian on Unsplash

“The horse produces manure in the stall,” writes Tauler (1300-1361).

We all got crap! Like it or not, none of us are perfect.

Each of us, in our own way, is chalked full of weakness and insufficiencies. We all have things about ourselves that we do not like and are not the most proud of. We all produce manure!   

But if we are honest, we likely spend a lot of time, energy, and commitment hiding our failures, defects of character, and flaws. 

“‘I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself’” (Genesis 3:10). 

It’s easy and very common to want to put on the best face and seem like we have everything together. The world of social media only shows the good things in our lives and hides the rest. 

But the reality is that we must confront ourselves. We must surrender to our poverty and need for God to do something great with our manure.

This surrender can come in the form of a ‘face down on the arena floor’ type moment, or it can come with a simple prayer, “Lord, I need you now.” In our failures, mess-ups, and crappy situations, we can cry out to the Lord for His help and His grace. We must confront the reality that, without the grace of God, our manure stays just that—manure. Cry out to God, admit that on your own you are powerless, and only with Him are all things possible.   

By covering up our failures and clinging to control our own lives and figure things out on our own, we limit the actual power of God. 

Yes, we have manure, but our manure gives us an opportunity to allow the Lord to bring about something much better. 

Writing in La Vie Spirituelle, Tauler reminds us that if we allow Him, God has the ability to transform our poverty into a beautiful creation that can be a blessing for others. 

“In itself, manure is repulsive and pollutes the air. However, the same horse bears it with much toil to the fields, where it produces a precious harvest of fine wheat or excellent wine, a harvest that would not have been so good if it had not received any fertilizer. Your own faults, which for the time being you have not mastered and which you will never succeed in overcoming, are your manure. Give yourself to carrying them diligently to the field of God’s good pleasure in true surrender. Spread your fertilizer over the good earth, and without the slightest doubt, precious and sweet fruits will grow from it with humble surrender.”

God is at work in each of our lives. Even in our mess, He longs to bring about sweet fruits! 

May we accept our crosses with sweet surrender and our poverty with holy abandonment so that, united with Jesus, our lives can be good soil for the Lord to bring about His life-giving work. 

Patrick is a beloved son of the Father who desires to use his gifts to build up the Kingdom of God. You can read more of his writing on his blog.