Last summer my older sister, Kristen, purchased beautiful flowers to hang in baskets in front of her house. The flowers were vibrant colors and really added a beautiful touch.
In the same way that God designed flowers to require water to live, He designed you and me to require His Word to live life to the fullest.
As the weeks went by when I looked at the flowers, I noticed their color was fading. The leaves withered and the petals looked sickly. I pointed the problem out to my sister and she said, “Uh, I know. I keep forgetting to water them.” A few weeks later the flowers officially died. (R.I.P pretty petals.) It seems the water never quite made it to their baskets. The next time time I saw my sister, she half-jokingly said, “I feel sorry for any plants that end up in my house. I just can’t seem to keep them alive.” I remember thinking, It’s not that hard to keep a plant alive. You just need to take a few minutes every day to water them. And then conviction hit me between the eyes. I thought Kristen was silly for neglecting to nourish her flowers, yet how often do I neglect to nourish my very own life. How often do I rush through my day and forget to water the garden of my soul, never stopping to read the “living and active” Word of God. I realized in a very practical way that my life, just like those flowers, will not thrive without the nourishment that only comes from time in God’s Word. Unless I take the time every day to nourish my soul, I’ll end up exactly like those withered flowers.
Imagine Yourself in the Flower Pot
I want you to take a second to imagine that you are a beautiful basket of flowers. In order to maintain your beauty and live up to your fullest potential, what would you need? You’d need nourishment! Without it, you would die. In the same way that God designed flowers to require water to live, He designed you and me to require His Word to live life to the fullest. How often do you nourish your soul by reading God’s Word? Maybe this mental picture will help get you started:
Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers (Ps. 1:1–3, emphasis added).
The person who delights in the Word and meditates on it day and night is strong and full of life, like a tree (or flower) that does not wither.
The person who delights in the Word and meditates on it day and night is strong and full of life, like a tree (or flower) that does not wither. That is exactly what I want for my life, don’t you? Let’s make time in our busy schedule for God’s Word every day, knowing we will wilt without it. What can you do to prioritize the Bible and make it a part of your day? What needs to change in your schedule to make that happen?