My wife is going to kill me, I thought to myself.
The grass in our yard, a sickly-looking yellowish olive under the brutal July sun, crunched under my feet as I lugged the water hose to where Charlotte’s garden struggled against the unrelenting heat.
For the last three weeks, my wife Charlotte has been in Germany, the land of her birth. It has been her first trip back since she first came to the United States at age twelve. It has been a magnificent trip for her and her dear friend Irmi as they’ve toured Charlotte’s hometown of Augsburg and other sites in Bavaria and greater Germany. As I write this, Charlotte and Irmi are in Munich, ready to board their flight back to the United States. In twenty-four hours, she’ll be back in Middle Tennessee.
And therein lies the problem. The last three weeks have been scorchingly hot here in Maury County, Tennessee. We’re about forty miles south of Nashville. And despite my grandson Caleb’s and my best nightly efforts at keeping the plants hydrated, Charlotte’s vegetable garden and beautiful flowers show definite signs of heat distress. It has just been too dadgum hot.
Charlotte had been particularly apprehensive about her precious plants while she was gone. And while I know she trusted Caleb and me to water them, she also had a plan B. On at least three occasions over the last three weeks, I’ve had well-meaning family and friends call or drop me a text on “welfare checks.” These were just to ensure Caleb and I weren’t starving and the house was still standing. And, of course, they would ask, “And oh yeah, how’s the garden?”
My spiritual garden needs watering as well. The affairs of day-to-day life can easily keep me from being in the Word daily. Even though I have a routine of reading a Bible chapter daily every morning to start my day, outside influences and pressures attack that time.
One morning, I opened my Bible and realized three days had passed since I last opened it. Three days! The words of our Lord are the seeds of my spiritual life. They are life itself. I must plant and nurture them and, most of all, guard against Satan’s persistent efforts to steal them from me. I wish I could say I won every battle, but I can’t. But I keep trying even when I fail, nurturing that precious garden in my heart.
How is your spiritual garden growing?
(Photo courtesy of pixabay.)
(For more devotions, visit Christian Devotions.)
Kevin Spencer likes to play with words, help others play with them, and is privileged to be a staff writer for Christian Devotions. He lives with his beautiful blessing of a wife, Charlotte, and his amazing collegiate grandson, Caleb.