My mom gifted me with a fern last spring. Since I didn’t have adequate cold weather shelter for Fern, she got to vacation in my parents greenhouse over the winter. She apparently had a great time as she got too big for her planter britches and had to upsize. She was so full and lush when I collected her to come stay with me for the summer! She settled nicely back in her front garden spot between Yew and Maple, though I noticed them scooch their leafy limbs back a bit to clear a little more space for her expanded girth.
The nights have been unseasonably cool for late April, early May, so I’m keeping an eye on the forecast temps in case Fern needs to come in for a sleepover. One night, though, I missed it and was commenting with regret to mom that I had left Fern out in the cold; I didn’t want to undo all the gorgeous growing she’d done! But mom assured me—If it’s well-watered, it can withstand the cold.
I was reminded that water acts as an insulator. When the cells of plants are plump with water, they’re stronger against the cold. And when soil is moist, it stays warmer than dry soil, so roots are better insulated thereby decreasing the potential for cold injury.
It sounds a lot like what God’s word is for us. When our “spiritual cells” are saturated with scripture, we’re strengthened for whatever comes against us (picture a thick, juicy cactus pad, immovable in hot desert winds and brisk cold nights). The water of His word hydrates, insulates, and protects the roots of our faith as they stretch, extend, deeper and stronger. Word-water maintains the growth condition of the soil of our heart, protecting what is already growing and making ready and receptive for new seeds that are sown.
His words are life to those who find them and health to all their flesh. ~Proverbs 4:22
Hydrated, insulated, filled up, strong, able, protected.
Body, soul, and spirit.
If it’s well-watered, it can withstand…
Dark nights.
Winds of change.
Wilderness seasons.
Cold shoulders.
And the Lord shall guide you continually and satisfy you in drought and in dry places and make strong your bones. And you shall be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters fail not.
Isaiah 58:11
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images by debra