by About 4 months ago, I purchased 18 small lavender plants. I was looking forward to planting them underneath my living room window. Then, the results from my mammogram showed a breast cancer. Well, everything in life got put on hold as I went through breast cancer surgery then radiation.
Week, after week went by and my small lavender plants struggled to stay alive during my physical difficulties. The plants were placed near the front door and when I had the energy, I would give them water. Sometimes, they looked so droopy, I wondered if they would make it. Sometimes, I felt so bad for the lavender. Yes, I know plants are not alive and do not have feelings, but I am a person who talks to the flowers and my flowers looked sad.
Being winter, the lavender desperately needed to be planted but there was no way I could plant them. So, I just tended to them the best I could. In New Zealand, gardening goes on even through winter. Plants and weeds still grow but just a bit slower. Grass still needs cutting occasionally and “Yes, even new things get planted, in winter, in New Zealand. My garden is actually the prettiest in winter and early spring.”
One thing I noticed about the lavender, “They easily would perk back up with some watering.” Each time I found them dreadfully droopy, I would think, “This is it. I have finally killed them. There is no way they will come back to life this time.” But they always perked back up with even the smallest amount of water.
Finally, the lavender is planted and already starting to look happier in the ground. Although still a bit rough, but inside, down at the base of the plants are tiny little new shoots of growth. Thank the Lord, he kept them alive during my physical issues. If they had all died, I would have felt extremely bad.
During the time of tending to the lavender, I got to thinking, “Isn’t this how life is? We Christians go through a lot. Each person has their own set of trials. Through these trials, we get droopy like my lavender or any plant starving for water. But, if we are faithful to stay in the Word, the Lord is our spring of Living Water and we perk back up.”
I thought about this song while writing this post.
“Drinking from the springs of living water…Happy now am I…my soul they satisfy…Drinking at the springs of living water…O wonderful and bountiful supply.” Chorus from the song “Springs of Living Water” by John W. Peterson
If I had never watered the lavender plants, they would have died. But I watered them, and thank the Lord, they always perked back up.
If we as Christians do not drink from the Living Water on a regular basis – we get droopy, discouraged and can become defeated.
What is our lesson from the garden today? “If you are droopy – go to the Living Water. Drink from it as often as you can. Do not fret if you get droopy over and over from life’s trails. Keep going to the spring of Living Water and be refreshed as often as need be.”
John 7:37-38 “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. 38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”
