Friday, July 20, 2012

The Grass is Always Greener...

Recently, instead of the traditional saying of "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence" I saw a garden sign that read, "The grass is always greener where you water it."

On a practical level, that's so true. My next door neighbor does not water at all and so their yard is brown. And that makes sense. I do water my lawn twice a week and my yard looks green and healthy. Yet, my neighbor across the street water their lawn every morning and their yard looks amazingly lush and green! 

You may wonder then why am I okay with green and healthy instead of watering to look amazingly lush and green. Because it's not about how things look, my friend! My lawn is stronger even if it's not lush and greener. My yard is stronger because when I water...I water deep. A website called gardenview.com, states this well known fact in an article when it mentions that when you water everyday the roots don't go deep for water because they have what they need without the effort of growing downward. Furthermore, the article states, "...When it gets hot out the surface is the first place to dry out. Even though there is water deeper in the ground the grass or plants dry out because their roots are only on the surface and not tapping the deeper water...Again, shallow roots create this problem."

Kind of like when Jesus said that seeds that fall along shallow soil suffer, "when the sun came up, it scorched the plants; and they dried up because they had no roots." ~Mark 4:6

So relating to the spiritual aspects of times with God, fellowship, study, worship..., yes you must water, but key is going deep! You could do the right things each day but if you don't go deep and they don't have substance it will not sustain you. Being strong and healthy enough to finish your race is important...not just looking good the first few miles.

When I leave town and my yard is fine. When my neighbors leave town, their lawn suffers tremendously. Likewise, when times get hard, if you've dug deep...you'll be fine but if you've kept things shallow...my friend, you will suffer. So to be green, you must water, that's obvious but I would like to change the saying and state, "The grass is always green and healthy where you water it...deep."