Well Watered Roots

Earlier today I was standing at my kitchen windows, and I noticed that the flowers on the patio looked dead. They were shriveled up, dry, drooping and turning brown. I feared they were beyond saving, but I wasn’t ready to give up on my beautiful pots that bring so much color and joy to the back of my house.

We were out of town over the weekend, and the plants did not get watered. That quickly they turned from standing at attention and beaming with vibrancy to a dull, dry, comatose slumber.

The reality is, I had been neglecting my plants a few days before we left, too. Family members were watering them, but they did not know that there is a vital process to watering flowers to keep them alive. Just putting the hose in a pot and letting the water run until it starts spilling over the top is not enough nourishment. Sure, the plants take in some water, but a lot is being lost by spilling over the pots and running off on the concrete.

I went out this afternoon in the shade of the eclipse, it was so cool, and I gave the plants what they desperately needed. Water! I worried it was too late, but I prayed and hoped to salvage them. I let the water run in the pots until I could see it at the top. Just before it would spill over, I removed the hose, let the water absorb fully, and then repeated the process, each time letting the water digest into the plant before adding more.

I was just sitting here thinking how much I am like those plants. I need to be watered to have life. My heart and mind demand, refreshing water. I need God’s Word, or I become like my plants, dry, droopy, slumping, and empty. Like my plants, I cannot just give myself a quick bolus of God’s word and expect a revival. I must have the discipline and patience to take some in and absorb and process it before I add more. If I am hasty and neglect that significant step, I gain very little because, like the plant water, the Word of God is going in my small brain too fast and just running out to be washed away by distractions.

I am thrilled to say, I looked out my window a few minutes ago, and my plants are standing tall and shining again. I am so thankful they were able to be saved. It is not too late for us either, friends. When we are feeling downcast, depressed, and exhausted, we just need to water our roots. It is amazing how spending time in The Word and letting it settle down deep changes our entire inner and outer appearance. It is a necessity for me, or otherwise, I am as lifeless as a dead flower that had no water.

The World Or The Word

What are you chasing today that is seemingly bigger, better, prettier or more satisfying than what you have?

I have written about our dog, Paisley, before.  She teaches me valuable lessons when I am paying attention. I often bring her a new toy, shinier, bigger and better toys. When she first gets them, she is elated.  She plays with them non-stop for a few days, and then they suddenly lose all their mystery, charm and satisfaction, only to sit untouched in her toy basket until the next better one comes along.  The cycle again repeats itself with each new toy.

I am a lot like that, too.  The world offers many distractions that capture my eyes and shift me from an eternal focus to an earthly one.  I become an exhausted runner, chasing, chasing, chasing.  Every time I attain what I am chasing, that deep soul ache is temporarily satisfied, until I realize the ache is still there and that next “better thing” did not come through for me either.

What I have learned after years of running is that I do not need to be running towards something, but to Someone.  If I am not chasing a deeper relationship with Jesus, I will be chasing something all my life that has a short return and fleeting satisfaction.

Life is a marathon, and I do not want to get to the finish line with only shiny medals that will rust and turn to dust.  I desire to cross that line falling into the arms of the One, who will always satisfy, eternally provide and forever be at my side.

What are you running after today, the world or the Word?