I wrote last week about how much I love being out in our back yard. The family that lived here before us planted so many flowers around the property and this year we’ve done a good job of taking care of them and planting some other flowers to go with them. This is a picture of just one of our roses. We’ve also planted a garden for the very first time. Nothing big, just a few tomatoes, some okra, green beans, and cucumber. One of the things I love doing is going out back early in the morning and late in the evening to water everything. I know this isn’t a profound thought or anything, but the discipline it requires to tend a garden and routinely water our plants parallels our need for regular spiritual sustenance. When my spiritual life feels like a parched, barren wasteland, it’s usually because I haven’t been drinking deeply with God. Certainly Bible study and prayer are a big part of this, but I also have to routinely engage in what Brother Lawrence calls “practicing the presence of God.” Because just as my flowers crave water and sunlight, my soul’s deepest desire is to connect with God, to spend time with Him, to love Him and to be loved in return. When that happens, growth occurs.

“Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
Give ear and come to me;
hear me, that your soul may live.” (Isaiah 55:1, 3)