This summer, we had several weeks where the temperature stayed 105-110 daily with no rain for months. Unfortunately, I don’t have a sprinkler system, so my yard looks pretty terrible right now. Where the grass died, weeds flourished. When mowed down, you can’t really tell just how bad it is, but as soon as those weeds start to grow, it is embarrassing how the yard looks with lots of brown patches and large sections of weed overgrowth. I was looking at it the other day, and a verse from Psalm 1 came to mind. The Psalmist is contrasting the righteous and the wicked, and he writes about the righteous that, “He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. (v. 3)”

This verse stands out to me for several reasons. The obvious initial thing I see is that the tree thrives next to the water source. Throughout scripture we see Jesus refer to Himself as the Living Water, and I cannot help but be reminded how my roots are strong when I drink from Him regularly. The verse also specifies, though, that the tree bears fruit “in its season.” I’m reminded, then, that maybe there are seasons where we bear much fruit and others where we don’t. I started thinking about how my grass also dies in the winter. It gets brown and crunchy every single winter, but it is a different kind of death. This sort of death is the natural life cycle of the grass. When my grass dies in the winter, it may not be pretty and green, but it is still functioning exactly as it was designed for that season.

My dead yard this summer, however, is a direct result of hot sun and too little water. My neighbors with sprinkler systems have beautiful green yards. They also have less weeds. Healthy grass doesn’t leave spaces for invasion from unwanted plants.

There are two things that this picture of grass and this verse remind me of. First, I am reminded that I need water to bear fruit. The closer I stay planted next to the Father, the more abundant the life will be that flows out of me. I also accept that some seasons will yield fruit more than others, and that is not necessarily a sign of failure. Second, I realize that when I let myself become disconnected from that water source, I open the door for weeds to take root and run wild. It only takes minutes for the weeds of my mind to start to crowd out the healthy thoughts and patterns of my life. If you’ve ever had to pull weeds (literally or figuratively), then you know how exhausting it is. We have the power to “water our grass” in a way that makes us strong enough to fend off the attacks of all the things wanting to overcome us.

This weekend we are spending lots of time in the yard cleaning up the mess that has been made from neglecting the basic care we should have been providing. Soon, the yard and flower beds will look beautiful again because my amazing husband is tending to them with so much care. I know God is faithful to do the same for me, uprooting all of the unhealthy things and giving me a chance to grow healthy and strong again. He wants to do the same thing for you. He is inviting us to a place of dependence where we drink from Him regularly instead of letting ourselves get unhealthy and giving space for “weeds” to grow. He wants us to be rooted deeply in Him and then provide shade and nourishment for others as we were intended to do all along.