One day in early March before the pandemic hit, Terry and I walked through a plant nursery. I know saying “plant nursery” is redundant, but I like to point out I walked through a place with living plants. And my husband still spends money on them. Granted, I am not in charge of them, so they are not ever at risk of dying. Because Terry is really good at keeping plants alive and keeping me away from them.
Anyway.
I saw this sign, “The Grass Is Always Greener Where You Water It,” and I smiled. This is so true. My plants don’t survive because I do not always water them the way I am supposed to water them, or I forget, entirely to water them. Worse, did you know overwatering plants is a thing? I cannot tell you how many plants I have killed by overwatering them.
I once had a conversation with my grandmother about a plant I was trying to keep alive, and I told her, “I’m watering it twice, sometimes three times a day!” My grandmother could not contain her laughter and she said, “Baby, you’re drowning the poor thing.”
Yep. Didn’t know you could “drown” a plant, but because I like to learn my lessons the hard way, I drowned and killed more than one plant in my life. Then again, I killed an artificial plant when I lived off campus during college, so go figure.
Lately, I realize my faith is like grass. It will be “greener” where I water it. The more time I spend reading scripture and being quiet, my faith is only going to grow.
“So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.” - Romans 10:17 (NLT)
I think the opposite would be true of my faith; where overwatering plants kill it; overwatering my spirit with God’s truth would drown my soul with Living Water. I’m okay with drowning my faith; just not my plants. If I skip a few days of reading the Word, or I only talk to God, and don’t listen … I’m not drowning my faith. I’m not allowing it to breathe and grow. I am not watering it, properly, by ignoring it.
If the grass is greener where we water it, just think what the Living Water does to quench our souls. Hearing the Good News about Christ makes our faith “greener.” When dealing with difficult people, turn to scripture and water your faith. When dealing with insurmountable challenges, turn to scripture and water your faith. When dealing with brokenness, turn to scripture and water your faith. When a friend betrays your trust, turn to scripture and water your faith.
Just like grass is greener where you water it, so is your faith. Jesus is our living water. Drown yourself in Him.