Watering Your Lawn and Reading Your Bible

Matthew 12:33: “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit.

I have to water the side and front lawns of our house by hand.  Usually, I do it when I get back from running in the morning, but I have slacked a bit lately.  Not enough time, or gumption, or discipline.  You know.  Well, I was watering this morning and noticed that our lawn is getting a bit crispy.  The brown is creeping up into the green in a way that means things are getting uneven.  Too much sun, not enough water.  Now I am sure it will survive.  Rain comes often enough that I don't actually need to do anything for it to survive.  But is that what I want?  Not at all.  Eventually, my lawn will get wholly unhealthy.  And as I watered this morning I thought,What do I need to keep it healthy?  Water it every day, of course.  But think about what I had been doing.  I had watered once in a while.  One day of watering won't be helpful at all.  Even a few weeks of intensive treatments will be for naught if I don't keep it up.  The lawn will survive, but it won't be healthy.  And that, if you couldn't see it coming, is exactly what it is like when you fail to feed your soul.

This is an inevitability.  Though we desire get-quick-rich schemes, nothing comes quickly, nothing comes without hard work.  Our souls, our lawns, need daily watering.  Yes, God will bring the rain.  You will often be able to sit passively by as God feeds your soul through outside means.  But that, of course, is not enough.  It will only keep you alive.  If you want true health, true fruit, you must water the lawn of your soul often.  

See this post for more on this subject.