This summer, the area around where I live went through a really bad drought. For months, temperatures during the day were in the 90’s and 100’s, and we didn’t have any rainfall. Following a dry, mild summer, fall, and winter last year, this meant that by the end of this summer, we were more than a foot behind normal. And you could tell.
Besides the dead grass and withering crops, the trees began to die. You could notice it the most with the trees that had shallow roots, or that were very young. Older, more deeply-rooted trees like Oaks seemed fine though. They were drawing their water from a source far below the surface, where the drought had not been able to reach.
I got to thinking about the parallels that draws in our lives. For many of us, when life gets easy, we slack off in our faith. We don’t spend much time in prayer, reading scripture, or digging into God. The ease of our lives kind of nudges Him out. It’s only when times get tough that we realize our need for Him.
We build a levee and install a sump pump before the flood waters rise. Roofs get patched on a warm, sunny day. Locks get fixed before the crime rates in the area start to climb. So why do we wait until a storm hits to work on our relationship with God?
Instead, we need to turn to God during times of ease and peace. If we maintain our relationship with Him throughout the high points of our lives as well as the low points, not only will we be able to enjoy the high points more greatly, but we’ll also be able to navigate through the difficult times much more easily as well. Instead of having to perform the work of rebuilding our faith and relationship with God at the same time as we’re dealing with the storm crashing all around us, if we maintain our relationship all along, we will be able to find shelter and peace as soon as the rain drops begin to fall.
The lesson that can be learned from God’s creation around us, as well as from our own life experiences is – don’t wait for the hard times to try to grow your faith. Go deep while there’s time.