In the last few years we have all been learning ways to recycle various items instead of just throwing them away. Even plant material can be recycled. Here is one way.
Many children help their parents make compost piles by dumping grass clippings, weeds, rotten vegetables, spoiled fruit, and leftover food in one spot to which manure, lime and occasionally soil and ashes may be added. These piles are turned over and stirred up once in a while, until the whole mixture becomes a wonderfully rich substance that, when spaded into a garden, provides the finest kind of enriched soil.
How does this all happen? If you were to dig your hand into a compost pile, you would find it is very warm and moist. This is the result of all the plant material decaying because of certain types of tiny worm-like creatures and organisms doing their job. The most active of all are billions of bacteria which work inside the pile. These are the principal producers of the heat and not only silently change everything to fertilizer, but destroy many harmful insects that are attracted to this banquet.
Other helpers, quite visible, include beetles, worms, millipedes and sowbugs that work near the surface, making miniature tunnels that allow air to reach the materials and make them decay faster. Many of these helpers have short lives, and soon their bodies become part of the compost, too.
Just think - all these helpers almost seem to appear from nowhere. Where do they come from? Well, this is just another wonder of God’s creation. He has designed each one to do its part without any training or instruction. Usually in a few weeks’ time the compost has become a crumbly, loam-like substance which, when spaded into a garden, enriches the soil and will produce excellent fruits, vegetables and flowers.
To see some of these active producers of compost, just take a shovel full of the decomposing mixture out of the center of the pile when it is about ready for use, spread it on a white cloth or newspaper, and look at it through a strong microscope. You won’t be able to see all of them, but what you find will help you grasp how wonderful the Creator’s ways are, even in such a thing as a lowly compost pile.
The Bible verse at the beginning reminds us that nothing is hidden from God, no matter how small or where it may be. Another verse asks, “Doth not He see my ways, and count all my steps?” Job 31:44Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps? (Job 31:4). The answer is, yes, indeed He does see the ways of every one of us, and He wants our lives to show obedience to His Word, the Bible, and to be pleasing to Him. Does your way of life please Him?
NOVEMBER 27, 1994
ML-11/27/1994