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Brown Grass, Green Heart By Kent d Curry What a horrible rainless Summer it’s been. Not only has it featured unbearable heat, but without regular showers everyone’s lawns have become bristly wastelands. Well, not everyone’s. I have some
disgusting neighbors who have ingenuously deduced a way to maintain a lush,
emerald lawn despite the weather. (I suspect they are secretly irrigating water
from the Mississippi River via an elaborate underground canal system, but have
no proof.) See, I’m not the type of
homeowner who will bankrupt myself for a picture-perfect yard worthy of the
cover of Better Homes & Gardens. However, neither am I the type of
homeowner who wants everyone else in the subdivision murmuring about me,
secretly pointing at my house and wondering why I’m deflating the value of
every home within a 10 mile radius. It’s a tough balance though.
Especially when we tried the Better Homes & Gardens route last year
with some success—until we received a water bill so large we’re still paying
on it. (And that was after selling the family mini-van to make the initial down
payment.) So yes, our yard’s a little on the brown side this year;
maybe even featuring some extended patches of soil so that my third grader can
study the terrain of the Sahara Desert right here at home. The neighbors don’t
seem to appreciate the extra educational opportunities I’m supplying my son,
but I can’t allow their small-mindedness to deter me. (After all, Harvard’s
sure to beckon if he makes a major archeological discovery.) Happily, a few days back it began a steady drizzle. After
spitting all afternoon we got what used to be called a good old-fashioned gully
washer. The rains descended and the floods came for most of a day, drowning the
parched earth with verdant life. True to the laws of nature, the circle of life
was restored almost overnight. No different from my pitiful yard, it’s not unusual for our
souls to be trapped in a desert—brown, dusty, and forlorn. We get cut off from
heavenly showers by mistakes, distractions, or sin, the busyness in life
draining color from our lives. David knew this “dry and
thirsty land” (Psalm 63:1) intimately. His solution was simple and direct.
He remembered God’s lovingkindness, then declared “I will lift up my
hands in thy name . . . and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips: When I
remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches” (Psalm
63:4-6). David also references the sanctuary, where prayer and a
community of believers refreshes and anoints everyone—the parched and the
productive alike. It’s the same solution today,
reigniting praise within and faithful church attendance without gives us the
opportunity to still make it on the cover of Better Souls and Gardens—no
matter how lush our neighbor’s worship is in comparison. © 2006, ninetyandnine.com -------
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