D is for DIG

I once dug a hole in a field, not for any aesthetic purpose, you understand, nor because I was searching for buried treasure, nor even because I wanted to conceal something from view, but I did dig with purpose and eventually, unlike U2, I found what I was looking for. It was a pipe, not one of the smoking variety, nor even a water pipe but it was a pipe that should have contained water. My first realisation that I needed to dig was when water began to take longer than normal to soak away from the gulleys around the house. Closer inspection indicated that a blockage had happened somewhere and when an inspection of the drainage and sewage systems showed no obvious malfunction, I was drawn to the field beyond and a strange dampness that seemed to have developed therein. In my mind I knew probably that the main soakaway pipe into the field was blocked but I had to find it first, so taking my line of sight where the pipe clearly entered the field, I began to dig, down and down and down, for a good few feet and several buckets of sweat later, there it was, partially hidden by some fairly large stones and a sprinkling of pebbles but there was no sign of any water. Surgery was needed and I soon discovered that while less specific in its treatment, a JCB is certainly quicker. I suppose the difference between it and my spade is the difference between a general and a local anaesthetic, if you catch my drift but it took my persistence in the first place to find what we were looking for.

Dad was such a great digger, he could have dug for Ulster, but mostly he preferred to dig in it. Near the orchard at the back of our home, he had a vegetable garden, that was bordered on two sides by hedges and on the other two by a rather elaborate, yet incomplete fence that was joined at the corner to a makeshift gate. It was certainly not Fort Knox, though the majority of possible invaders or thieves remained outside except for the very occasional starving rabbit or escaping cow. And it was a hard dig, but about this time of year, he would have already begun to turn the first few sods with a view to planting the vegetables in early spring. Inside the fence and hedge border was an area about one third of the size of a penalty area but the only goal was to be finished before Easter. And he was quite happy to spend whole days or the light evenings when he returned from market, completing another couple of feet along its length. Occasionally I joined him for the torture but usually was able to be otherwise occupied for the initial dig which was the hard bit. After that he would swap the spade for a grape and sift through the soil again, removing any stones or breaking down any large lumps and eventually forming the whole show into a series of drills at the bottom of which he placed a layer of well rotted cow manure before closing them up in readiness for the planting. So every year, by the early summer, we had a fresh supply of peas, cabbages, scallions, lettuce, parsley and cauliflower on the table and only because dad was persistent in his digging.

It occurs to me that there are probably only two reasons why we dig. Either we are trying to bury something or we are trying to raise something. In both cases it's hard work but Paul tells us we have to do both to be reconciled to God, when he tells the Colossian Christians 'having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.' But once we have that faith, God expects us to dig deep into His Word in order to know Him better and thus grow to be more like Him. It doesn't happen overnight and we need to be persistent in seeking Him in the very depths of the Scriptures.

Incidentally, the old vegetable patch at home is no more. For a few years after dad was no longer fit to dig, we tried to keep it going but eventually it turned back into grass and weeds and soon it was no different to anything else around. I guess there's a lesson in there for us all. About persistence. About neglect. About others seeing us as different. But mostly it's just about digging. And the deeper the better.