Overwatering

I don’t have a green thumb . . . I don’t even pretend to have a green thumb! Gardening is not something I enjoy, and it certainly isn’t something I am good at. However, I do love flowers. I love the color they bring to my porch and deck, and the joy they bring to my heart. So, I have settled on potted annuals to brighten up our outdoor space. With a little advice from others and a lot of help from my husband, I manage to keep hearty petunias and marigolds alive in various pots staged here and there on the deck—strategically positioned so I can enjoy them from my favorite chair in the family room, as well.

The scorching heat of a South Dakota summer day has been an unlikely teacher in my foray into horticulture. While it seems like a good idea to give the flowers a little drink every day, in the long run you are setting yourself up for failure. With constant, small doses of water, the roots are never encouraged to grow deep. They stay happily near the surface drinking in the water you give them every day. But what about the weekends you head out of town? Or the days you simply forget? (I’m just saying, it may have happened a time or two!) The surface water quickly evaporates, and the poor plants are set to wilt and scorch in the heat of the day.

If you give a bigger drink of water once or twice a week, the little roots are challenged to stretch down to the moist depths for the water they need. This moisture doesn’t dry out so quickly and deep roots mean the plant can make it through a stretch of drought due to your absence . . . or forgetfulness. Better yet, water fortified with a fertilizer like Miracle Gro® will really help your plants thrive. And a process known as “deadheading,” where you cut off all the dead flower heads, will encourage the plant to focus on flower production rather than using energy for seed production. This kind of nurturing will really give you a profuse array of flowers, with vibrant colors and rich greenery.

As I walk this journey, discipling and being discipled, I am learning there are some great spiritual truths we can learn from some of these basic gardening principles. I fear that as I have walked with some, I may be guilty of overwatering. My intentions are always good. I intend to help them, whether with a financial need or tasks at hand—and there are indeed times when those are good things. However, sometimes God uses those hard times to stretch their faith—helping them to grow deeper roots. If I am always “watering,” I can impede that growth. Worse yet, they may even come to depend on me, rather than God! 

And sometimes meeting those material needs isn’t even the kind of help they really need. It may bring relief for a time, but it isn’t helping them to learn how to endure the “droughts” or hard times they may have yet to face. While “water” is essential to life, there is a distinct difference between physical water and spiritual water. What we really need is living water! The gospel and the teachings of God’s Word are the Miracle Gro® of our faith. This is the nourishment we really need to blossom and thrive. And while we never like the process of “deadheading,” sometimes we need to let God remove those things which are draining our energy rather than producing life. Removing the people and things that aren’t bringing us closer to God will result in our energy being focused on the things of God rather than the things of this world! The truth is, God generously offers both abundant life and eternal life as we yield our lives to the skilled hands of the Master Gardener. 

So, I find myself praying for wisdom regarding when and how much to water into the lives of others. God implores that we “help the poor and the needy.” We are certainly called to “go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” Yet, we must also take care not to “overwater.” I pray for discernment between helping and hurting, empowering and enabling.  Oswald Chambers, a man after God’s own heart, put it this way:

“One of the most difficult lessons we ever learn is that we must not interfere in other people’s lives. It takes us a long time to learn this lesson. We stubbornly refuse to realize the danger of playing the amateur providence by interfering with God’s plans for others. We see someone suffering, and we say, “That person will not suffer. I’ll make sure of it.” In order to prevent their suffering, we raise a hand against God’s permissive will. How does God answer? He says, “What is that to you? You must follow me.””

 - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest (Modern Classic version)

We want to be loving, we want to be kind, we want to be nice. But the truth is, we live in a culture that is making it increasingly difficult to understand the difference between “loving” and “nice.” I’m afraid the reality of it is that sometimes love doesn’t look too nice—it looks more like deadheading or outright pruning, which can be painful. Sometimes love is not helping, so that God can finish the work he is doing in that person’s life. Lord, help me, that I would not be an “amateur providence.”

Chambers points to the passage we find in John 21:21-22 where Peter asked of Jesus what his plans were for John, “When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus answered . . . “What is that to you? You must follow me.”” Perhaps we need to spend more time worrying about our own walk with the Lord. And on that intimate, side-by-side, hand-in-hand walk with the Lord, he will tell us when it is time to water, and when we may need to allow life’s circumstances to help them grow deeper roots. We should all have a watering can at the ready, filled to the brim with godly generosity—of our time, our talents, and our treasure. We just need to walk closely enough with the Lord to know when we should use it. And let’s never forget to use living water—not only meeting physical needs, which offers temporary relief, but lavishly pouring out love and truth, which offers eternal life! 

“The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.”

Matthew 13:20-21

 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful."

John 15:1-2

“On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”

John 7:37-38

“Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?”

2 Corinthians 6:14

“Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”

John 15:4