Water

Photo by Heather Addley/365 Days of Heather

The other day I bought some plants to fill out some places in the garden where I had removed earlier plantings. Most of what I got was squash and sweet potatoes and since I was in a hurry when we came home I just removed the plants from the car and set them by the wall of the front garden. The front garden faces south so by the time I was ready to plant the next day everything was badly wilted.? I took all the plants and put them in an old dishpan about half full of water and sure enough within half an hour they had popped out of their wilt and looked healthy again.

This got me to thinking: what are the things that serve as water in our lives? What makes us wilt and how do we survive?

I know for me there are a number of physical things I need to pay attention too if I’m not going to “dry out”. Too little sleep will send me into a space where I have little resilience and blood sugar, and hydration also effect my mood and coping skills quite a bit.

In addition I find I need to pay attention to how much time I have spent with which people. There are a few people with whom I strictly limit my time, it’s simply not healthy for me to be around them for too long, and others with whom I need to spend plenty of time in order to be balanced. S is one of those people for me. I find my mood and coping abilities suffer quite a bit when we don’t have opportunities to talk at length and in depth about what we are thinking and dreaming. When our lives become so busy that we only have time to update each other on a few of the happenings of our day before falling asleep I begin to “wilt”.

Finally, I need time to pursue spiritual water. This can take many forms: daily devotions, church services, book studies and discussions with friends. I find it must include set aside time for prayer and reflection, as well as time for simply being quiet and waiting to see what God will do.

Lately, I’ve been finding to that I get more water from things when I have a heart and intention to receive water (grace) in all aspects of my life. Attitudes make such a difference in my ability to perceive my life as good or even worth living in its present shape. Wilting (discouragement) creeps in so quickly when I focus on what’s going wrong and what I don’t have, yet those same circumstances can be a source of strength when my heart allows them to be.

Like the plants in my garden I need regular? refreshing in order to continue to live and grow. Unlike them however I am able to refuse the water that falls on me in order to wilt even more. I can choose to ignore those things that I need for refreshing or I can incorporate them into my life. I must live in such a way that allow for regular refreshment, before I can in turn refresh others.? Living in intentional grace permits me to share my “water” with those whose lives I touch and grow in grace and love with them.