“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
whose trust is the Lord.
He is like a tree planted by water,
that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
for it does not cease to bear fruit.”
-Jeremiah 17: 7-8

Living and working in the desert has helped me to have a deeper appreciation for certain Scripture. In the rainy season of winter, the desert landscape will come out of dormancy. Brush and trees will turn from a dead brown to green, produce blooms and then even produce fruit by spring if enough rains have come. Bare, rocky soil will fill with a carpet of grasses and wildflowers. When the rains are gone and the hot temperatures of summer come again, all the brush will become dull and brown and can appear dead. The grasses and annuals dry up and blow away.

Occasionally, however, you will find a tree or bush that is still a healthy green, even out of season, while everything around it for miles is dry. It may even bloom and produce fruit again. How can this be? It can only mean that this plant has access to life-giving water that none of the others has.

So it is with us who have been born again and are indwelt with His Spirit. We are fed by the Creator of life. How is it that a man can endure great trials? How can someone do right even with great temptation? Trust in the LORD. Reach down your roots to the true and living God and walk with Him always. Meet with him in prayer and hear His voice in Scripture. Look for him in the words of your spouse, the cry of a child, in the song of a bird and in the grace of an athlete. See Him in the trials and droughts. Then we can be green plants in a dry desert, bearing fruit to nurture to the needs of those who struggle to live in the wilderness.

“...when the appointed times of prayer were past, he found no difference, because he still continued with GOD,...” -Brother Lawrence The Practice of the Presence of God