The Corpse in the Backyard

Introduction:

Everyone has a backyard ,the place where they bury the painful, shameful, or terrifying parts of their past.

The corpse in the backyard is symbolic of those unresolved experiences: betrayal, poverty, rejection, fear. Though buried, they still rot and release a stench that seeps into every part of a person’s life.

And the tragedy? While you are busy maintaining the backyard checking if the corpse is still hidden, covering the smell, reinforcing the fence you neglect the front yard: the now, the next, the new.

1. The Corpse of Betrayal

You were loyal. You were honest. But they weren’t.

Now every new relationship is judged by the standard of the pain you buried.

You became a detective instead of a lover. Suspicion replaced vulnerability. And even when good love shows up, you chase it away because you’re too busy guarding your backyard.

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!” Isaiah 43:18-19

2. The Corpse of Poverty

You know what it’s like to have nothing. So now, you cling to safety.

You stay in a 9-to-5 job out of fear—not passion.

You’ve convinced yourself that “stable” is better than “risky,” even if risk could lead to overflow.

Your dream of being the employer dies a little more every day you settle.

You were called to write the pay-check, not just receive one.

“Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.” – 3 John 1:2

3. The Corpse of Discouragement

They told you someone else tried and failed.

You listened. You buried the idea.

And now? You live a life of “what ifs” and “I should have.”

But that failure wasn’t yours. Don’t inherit other people’s corpses.

“God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” – 2 Timothy 1:7

 Stop Tending the Dead

You weren’t meant to be a caretaker of decay.

The past is buried ,but it only has power if you keep going back to it.

Shift your eyes. Move from trauma to truth. From memory to movement. From the backyard to the front yard.

Let God resurrect your future. Stop burying your potential.

“He makes everything beautiful in its time.” – Ecclesiastes 3:11