Beans in the Dirt

Galatians 6:1-10 
(1) Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
(2) Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
(3) For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.
(4) But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.
(5) For every man shall bear his own burden.
(6) Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.
(7) Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
(8) For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
(9) And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
(10) As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

On the way to church a few weeks ago we saw two men scrounging in the dirt in the middle of the road. At first I wondered what they were doing, and clucked my tongue, wishing them out of the way. The road is narrow enough with the pavement crumbled off the sides, bicyclists and pedestrians all over the place, and I knew there was no way for them to be filling potholes without tools. Plus, they were on a dirt portion of the road. I was certain with the way some people drive that they were sure to be hit. 

As we got closer, I could see they were picking up dried beans. Their plastic bag from the market must have split, and their beans went all over the road. My immediate thought was “Oh sorry! What a tedious job!” And then I thought: “If this was America, they would’ve just left them and bought more.” But these man can’t afford that. They needed all those beans, and were willing to dig through the dirt to get them back.

Several things struck me about this situation, and made me examine myself in a spiritual sense. (Bear with me for a moment as I compare people to beans.)

-These beans were precious to these men. Are the people I minister to (or just see around me) precious enough for me to dig through the dirt to get them? Someone dug through the dirt to get me out of the road once upon a time. All are precious in the Lord’s eyes and they ought to be to me as well. 

-The men’s hands and knees got dirty trying to pick the beans up. Sometimes we get dirty helping people out of the road. We can try to call to them from the side of the road, and encourage them to come back to safety, but they don’t always hear us. There is traffic in the road, and maybe they’re afraid of getting hit by a car. So sometimes we have to get in the road with them and guide them out of the dirt. 

-The men had to search for the beans. They weren’t calling out to be rescued, or jumping up out of the dirt, but the men got down on hands and knees, and looked carefully to find every bean they could. People don’t always cry out for rescue. Sometimes their circumstances alone should be enough for us to reach out and try to get them out of the road. 

-Those beans had been in a bag of safety with the men before falling into the road. Maybe the weight of them caused the bag to tear, or maybe the bag was weak to begin with. Sometimes people choose to fall into the dirt on the road, and sometimes things outside their control put them back there. We should be careful not to abandon them because we think we know how it happened. All we are called to do is try to pick them back up. 

-The men put themselves in harm’s way in the middle of a busy road to pick up all those beans. Sometimes getting people out of the dirt puts us in a seemingly bad position. Sometimes what God has asked us to do looks crazy, and even dangerous, to other people. But if God calls us to get in the dirt on the road to reach someone, we need to get in the dirt on the road. He guides and protects, and knows what each person needs. 

-The men were focused on getting every bean they could find. They didn’t pay attention to how they were annoying the cars around them. They weren’t glancing up every second worried someone might be telling them off. Their entire focus was to carefully scoop every bean out of the dirt to take them back home. Sometimes we have to ignore the naysaying around us and just focus on getting our beans out of the dirt.