Hidden Steppingstones
When we bought our home in 2015, I decided to survey our property in hopes of finding some hidden gems tucked away in all the neglected bushes, scrubs, and renegade honeysuckle. I snapped back a few old vines and rotten branches in one corner of our property near the alley and I found underneath decomposed debris a 8’x16’ level concrete slab. Who knows why it existed or what it was used for? It probably had been decades since the original owners (1950’s) built a shed on the site. And why this location? Later that day I found the hidden Candyland path marked by steppingstones. The stones led from the house to the mystery spot. These flat and heavy limestone rocks were laid out in a well-spaced manner. The echo of the past footsteps on the smooth tones cried out, “Just follow the path and you will find your way there.”
The Psalmist writes:
Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers. – Psalm 1:1-3 (NIV)
There much to learn from this Psalm. One word I want to unearth, “law.” God’s generosity is found here. The Hebrew word for law is “Torah,” which means to throw out the hand and finger, and point the right direction to go (The. Sacred Psyche, Edward Edinger, 21).” The visual image could also look like steppingstones that mark the path to a place of generosity.
Jesus unearthed this truth when tempted in the desert.
After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” - Matthew 4:2-4
Jesus quoted the Torah, Deuteronomy 8:4. The tempter said, “If you are the Son of God.” Could Satan have tried to stir up doubt in Jesus’ mind about his identity as the Son of God? Probably. Might the deceiver tempted Jesus at his weakest moment to see if he would feed on his own strength? Likely. Jesus set the steppingstones by using the Torah to claim his rock-solid identity.
I admit when I’m tempted, I question my direction and identity. The world’s bread looks awfully seductive. (Heck, give me some peanut butter and I might try it alone anyway.) I wonder if my strength to resistance will hold up. And that’s the issue…my resistance. It’s like chaff that wind blows away” (Psalm 1:4.) Augustine uses the word, “pride,” to describe the state we find ourselves. The tempest can blow us around like chaff. We are tempted to believe we can “live on bread alone.”
Jesus believed in God’s generosity when he said, “One lives by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” The bread may feed us for a day, but the generous words from the mouth of God ignite our souls to peel back the dead layers of self to find the True Self and the path to move forward. What is the True Self? Edinger writes, “True Self is fruitful, substantial, nourishing, so the buried Self is empty, trivial, and weightless (The Sacred Psyche, 29.)”
The psalmist feeds on God’s Word, “Instead you thrill to God’s Word, you chew on Scripture day and night. You’re a tree replanted in Eden, bearing fresh fruit every month, never dropping a leaf, always in blossom(Psalm 1:3, MSG).” God’s generosity strengthens our identity and multiples our generous spirit. The fact that the tree is replanted by rivers of water brings to light the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden. Restoration. New Beginnings. Full and Overflowing Cup. The one taking delight in God’s word has been reconnected with the lost Paradise, the Kingdom of God.
Do you desire that God replant you with a spirit of generosity toward yourself and others? Here are a few questions that might unearth the steppingstones to help you find your way: How do you wish to be different? What is the hardest part about that? How will you unearth on God’s word to see and act differently? When will you start?
The mystery spot became a vegetable garden. I had a dream of what it might look like. I used the old concrete slab, decomposed vegetation and dirt to make my own little garden of Paradise…herbs, leafy greens, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and squash.I planted and water, and God made it grow. God’s generosity begets a generous spirit.