Water your own grass

Green Thumb: an exceptional aptitude for gardening or for growing plants. I will start by admitting something. The only way I've ever had a green thumb is from painting! I assure you it's not from a lack of wanting to. I'll plant seeds with every intention of doing whatever it takes to see them grow.I'll do really good for awhile and I get so excited when I see even the tiniest stem spring up or actual flowers blossom. And then...

I happened to look in the general direction of the flowers I had planted around our tree in our front yard. Sad looking is putting it nicely. They were drooping and had taken on a lovely brown shade. I could almost hear their little flower voices yelling at me from the beyond "All you had to do was water us!" That was something I had forgotten to do over the last several weeks or so and in this ridiculous Texas weather those plants didn't stand a chance. Green thumb? Hardly.

My eyes found their way to our neighbor's house. Seeing the bright pink, bloomed....Alive....flowers that always look so Martha Stuart-ish I found myself turning green alright but it wasn't my thumb. Envy can be a dangerous thing & it's often misplaced anyways. Proverbs 14:30 says, "A heart at peace gives life to the body,but envy rots the bones"

"How in the world does she keep them looking like that?" I asked myself. 'Watering them would be a good start' I heard that annoying little voice of reason say. As I longingly studied the flowers from across the lawn I had a curiosity rising that I had to fulfill. Just call me Curious George.So I trekked across the grass to where our neighbors perfect pink flowers sat in their hanging baskets and reached up to touch the petal.Guess what?....FAKE!! That's right, these perfectly bloomed flowers that I had just been desiring to grow in my own yard weren't even real! And I realized I went somewhere I didn't need to be and for nothing!

Now I'm not saying there's anything wrong with having fake flowers in your yard.It's pretty smart actually. It definitely fools people (it fooled me)...from far away.Fake flowers don't take work, you don't have to water them...ever. Seems like a perfect solution to my green-less thumb right? But it's not, not really. There's something missing.

I'm reminded of an episode from my favorite show, I LOVE LUCY. Lucy is entering a contest for her garden of lilies but Ricky runs over them with the lawn mower. So at the last minute she plants fake ones hoping to pass those off as real ones to the judges as well as her jealous neighbor & they fall for it...at first.Just when you think Lucy's about to win, the flowers start melting right in front of the judges' eyes! I'm sure you've heard the saying "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence." well that's not always true, especially if it's artificial. The reason why I keep attempting to plant real flowers despite many failed attempts is not just because I like how they look, I enjoy the whole process. I like to see them go from a tiny seed into a beautiful flower. Even flowers can usually last awhile without water but eventually they turn brown, shrivel up and die.

If we really want to avoid dehydration we need to drink before we are thirsty. We need to establish watering routines that keep us well-watered. Only Jesus offers us living water that will keep spiritual dehydration away. Our attitude has to be willing to accept it though. An open attitude before God keeps us from lacking the things we really need.

"The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. (Psalm 23: 1-3, NIV)

You may have heard the story of the woman who had been through 6 divorces who met Jesus at the well.She was obviously seeking fulfillment,but in the wrong places. Jesus told her, "Whoever drinks this water will get thirsty again;But anyone who drinks the water that I shall give will never be thirsty again:The water that I shall give will turn into a spring inside welling up to eternal life." Each of us has the choice to draw water only from the well every day to accept the living water that Jesus offers us. What is this living water? Put simply we could describe this living water that Jesus offers us as the love of God. If we don’t receive this living water from Jesus daily, we will look for satisfaction in ways that will never satisfy us. He's not just a hose that turns off and on- He's a river that never runs dry and therefore our hope doesn't have to either!

Plants require regular watering to be healthy. In the same way, our souls need regular watering to remain spiritually healthy.

Everyday we face new challenges, tests, and circumstances and the only way we can be prepared to face them is to make sure we're doing everything in our power to grow our faith. I have found time and time again that when I start my day with prayer (before I even get out of bed) that it helps my day tremendously. Even reading just one verse from the bible. There are even so many apps now that make it easy to do of you don't have a bible readily available. I have an app on my phone that sends me a new verse every day. It's something I still struggle with doing everyday but the bible wasn't written to be a history book, that's why it's called the living word. The time I spend doing things that aren't going to really make a difference in my life (like watching tv) is time I could be using to do things that will make a difference. I'm not saying you shouldn't watch TV,Olympics anyone?Yes please! I'm just saying that how we spend our time & set our priorities make a huge impact in our lives & those around us. The bible is meant to be bread for daily use, not cake for special occasions.Do you spend so much time with trivial things throughout the day that you run out of time for God? Guilty. I realize it's not always easy to make time in today's hectic world but trust me if you take even a few minutes with God a day He will show you it was worth it.

I'm in no way saying if you do that it means you won't face any challenges throughout the day God assured us we will,  but it will equip you to be better prepared to deal with them when they come.

It's easy to look at the lives of others when certain things in our own lives may not be going how we planned or may like. It may appear they have it all together, that all their flowers are in perfect bloom. But nobody has a perfect life. You never know which of the flowers are real and which are fake ones for show.We can waste so much time comparing ourselves to others or wanting what they have that the many good things we have  in our own life start to wither away. So instead of looking at our neighbors yards we should be focusing on ways to improve our own.

You may think the grass is greener on the other side, but if you take the time to water your own grass you will see it is just as green..

“We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.” ~ Frederick Keonig