Dry seasons & the Mulch

Dryness. Drought. Weary. Rock hard soil.

 We need rain.  I have two peach trees, an apple tree, muscadines, two young dogwoods, and some other plants that are desperate for water.  It has not rained in a while, so I have resorted to hauling buckets of water to the plants. I’m hoping that between the water and the mulch I raked around the base of the trees will sustain them until we get rain.

All while there is no rain in the 10-day forecast:

“O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.  I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory.  Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.” Psalm 63:1

There are dry seasons.  I wish I could say that I never have them, but I do.  There are several reasons for dry seasons.  Some we understand and some we don’t.  Has life’s circumstances knocked you on your bottom? Has someone let you down?  Were there expectations not met?  Did it get harder than you expected? Was it more complicated than you initially thought? Are you just frustrated?

“As a deer pants for flowing streams,

    so pants my soul for you, O God.” Psalm 42:1

Any reason under the sun that has caused you to run dry, for your soil to be stubborn, hard, and dry… there’s enough grace for that!

“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:26

What to remember in the times of dryness..  Because His love is better than life, my lips will glorify Him!  We may not always FEEL the best, or FEEL like committing our lives to the LORD.  When those times come, I try to remember all that He has done, and what He has freed me from! Here’s something else... we deserve hell. I know that sounds harsh, but it's true. We do. (Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23)  We don’t just deserve hell when we die, we deserve hell right now. So, anything we are facing today, whatever is inconveniencing us and causing us to fall into a dry period, it should be a marvelous joy in comparison to hell! When Jesus is our Lord and Savior, we escape hell and have been justified to go to heaven.  That should change the way you wake up in the morning. The way you experience life, the sunlight in the trees, anything… it should be a joyful experience in light of what we truly deserve. 

It should… but that’s easier said than done.  Take it one day at a time, abiding in Him, and I PROMISE He will transform your heart.  He will soften those stoney places! He desires to take those stoney parts of our heart and soften them with HIS everlasting water. A great way to refocus our hearts is to filter all of thoughts through Phillipians 4:8,

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

P.S. (this is probably a message for another time, but I know someone needs to hear this...)

Remember the mulch?  Mulch keeps the moisture in, it's a barrier from the sun, and sustains the soil until more rain comes.  Do you have mulch in your life?  When you start to dry up, you need a friend to help sustain you until the rain comes. Find that “someone” who will pray for you, check up on you, and spoon feed you scripture when you need it!