The news reporters said this has been the worst drought in Texas since 1918. It is dry and brown and the soil is cracked. Although we have done little or nothing to keep our yard alive it is really amazing that everything in the yard is either dead or dying…except one plant. Not only is this plant not dead it was actually flowering the other day.
When we planted our yard about seven years ago my mom suggested a Texas sage. I’ll admit I’m not a gardening type person so I took every suggestion that was given to us. It was a small little shrub when we planted it but it didn’t take long for that sage to grow really big and strong.
The next winter my mom came over and told me to cut it down to the ground. I was very hesitant and watched in disbelief as she cut it to where it barely stood a foot off of the ground. Lo and behold that sage grew back twice as big that spring and summer. Therefore I cut it down and watch it grow back.
It usually gets some water and it definitely gets some sunlight, but this year it has gotten almost no water and yet that sage is strong and beautiful and resilient. The entire yard is dead and yet the prettiest little purple blooms extend off of her sage green leaves.
I’m encouraged by her strength and her resiliency. The pruning is costly and painful and yet she grows back twice as strong and beautiful. The drought has left others in despair and yet she shines forth with pride and fortitude.
That sage is a visual reminder to me. The circumstances may not be easy. There will be some pain involved. However I am strong and I have the strength to walk this road.
Psalm 1:1-4
1 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,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the LORD,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
3 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.
