At the Heart of The Soil You Need to Grow
You know, we usually don’t notice ourselves being formed or shaped until something pressures us. That’s when we realize something isn’t letting us grow.
It’s not the big dramatic moments that shape us most consistently. It’s the steady accumulation of our moment to moment choices and actions. What we open first in the morning. What we replay in our heads on the drive. Where we reach when we’re anxious, bored, or tired. What voices we’ve let set up permanent residence in our thinking.
None of those things announce themselves as formative. They just are. Over time, they either deepen our roots or they compact the soil.
The person in Psalm 1 meditates on the law of the Lord day and night because consistent return to truth is what keeps the water flowing. It’s not about being super spiritual. It’s proximity. Nothing grows strong if it’s not close to the nutrients it needs to grow.
If we’re truly honest with ourselves, we won’t just ask, “Am I doing my devotions?” Instead, we’ll ask, “What am I actually marinating in?“
The Soil Matters to Get Something to Grow
I’m not one with a really bright green thumb. In fact, I actually killed a lot of plants before I understood what soil actually does.
I was the person who bought the cheerful little herb pots from the garden center, set them on the windowsill, watered them when I remembered, and then felt vaguely betrayed when they withered. I thought I was doing everything right. The plant had light. It had water. And I had good intentions.
What I didn’t have was an honest look at what was underneath.
The soil was wrong. Compacted in some places, too shallow in others. The roots had nowhere to go. And all the sunlight in the world couldn’t fix what was happening or not happening below the surface.
I’ve thought about that a lot when it comes to my own spiritual life. How much energy I’ve spent on the visible parts. The right answers. The consistent attendance. Or the posts that reflect something real. And how long it took me to stop and ask the more uncomfortable question:
What is actually forming me right now?
Psalm 1 and the Question Underneath the Question
Psalm 1:1-3 is familiar enough that it can start to feel decorative. We’ve seen it on prints, heard it in sermons, maybe nodded along without really letting it land.
But read it slowly:
“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.”
The image isn’t a person who’s trying harder. It isn’t even a person who’s doing more. It’s a tree that’s planted somewhere specific, near water, with roots that are drinking from something living and constant. The growth is a result. The placement is the point.
Which brings us back to the real question: What is the soil of your daily life actually made of right now?
A Small Diagnostic to See What Forms Us Without Our Permission
If you’re not sure what’s forming you right now, here’s a simple way to find out. For one week, notice:
- What you reach for in the first ten minutes of your morning
- Where you fall back when a decision feels hard
- What voices you trust most when your confidence is low
- What content, conversations, media you’re consuming most consistently
No condemnation in the list. Just information. The point isn’t to feel guilty about the soil. The point is to see it clearly so you can do something about it if anything needs to change.
Because here’s the grace in Psalm 1: the blessed person is described as planted. Not arrived. Not perfected. Just rooted in the right place.
You can be replanted. The soil can change. And sometimes the most significant growth work is the kind no one sees yet, the roots going deeper before the fruit appears.
One Thing to Try This Week
Pick one thing you consume daily — a podcast, a social media feed, a mental habit — and hold it up to this question: Is this forming me toward Christ, or forming me toward something else?
This question isn’t meant to create a guilt spiral. It’s a necessary question to help you make a conscious choice instead of a default one.
Growth starts with seeing what’s in the ground.
“That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.” — Psalm 1:3
If you had to describe your current season of growth using a gardening or nature metaphor, what would it be?
Are you in a season of planting, watering, waiting for a sprout, or finally seeing some bloom?
Drop your answer in the comments. There’s no wrong answer, and we’d love to hear where you are.
For the deeper questions about what’s truly forming you, what you’re reaching for, what voices have moved in without invitation, they deserve more than a comment box. Consider keeping a journal this month as you work through the GROW theme. Write honestly. No one else has to see it. That’s often where the real root work happens.
