Words are pretty, aren’t they? I like this one. Cul-ti-vate. It rolls off of the tongue. On the surface, it makes me think of flowers. But “Cultivation” reminds me of something else, deeper down, closer to the true meaning. Soil, dark and deep.
It’s not quite making, you know? Cultivating is messier than that.
It’s breaking and turning and mixing the dirt, letting the worms and the bacteria do their part, before you start messing with seeds and sprouts.
I always used to think of drafting as the part where you plant the seeds. It’s the weeding that goes on when you edit.
I’ve never thought about the cultivation stage, not really.
But I’ve been doing it forever. I’ve been doing it all my life. We all have, whether we’ve started planting the seeds or weeding the seeds we’ve planted, we’ve all got that rich soil. We all have a chance to grow something, to make something real, whatever the medium becomes. But we have to be brave enough.
We cultivate when we live. And living involves a lot of breaking and turning, too. There’s no escaping it. If you live, you’re going to hurt.
The only question is this: are you going to use that pain to make something new, or are you going to hold onto it, letting it turn to rot?
God is the Creator. He is very good at “making all things news” (Revelation 21:5). I’ve experienced it for myself. The main character in my current project, Wes, has been through a lot more than I have, and yet, I find a lot of my own experiences have helped me to understand him as a character.
That’s another thing about cultivating, by the way. It happens, right there beneath the surface, until suddenly you’re planting seeds. You think you have the rows in order, but things don’t always fall exactly where you expect. Because it’s not just you, creating, isolated from everything else that you are.
It’s not just the seeds.
It’s also the soil, alive and waiting to make new things grow.
“We cultivate when we live.” This is so true. What a fantastic post, Stefanie!! *claps* Thank you for this. I’ve been realizing that I have to get off my screens and live if I actually want to cultivate something whether it be knitting or even actually coming up with something to blog about. There is so so much more inspiration in real life but real life is messy and we can and will get hurt too. But like you said, God can turn it into something beautiful and He will work it all for our good even when we don’t understand. Thanks for this reminder. God love you!
Why thank you, Sarah 🙂 I’m glad it was helpful to you! And YES, screens are so difficult. I’ll do well for a while at actually living, only to get sucked back in. It’s doubly difficult when you use said screens for creative pursuits, or for work.
God has definitely turned so many of my difficulties into beauty, and I am so thankful. God love you, as well. <3