Dried Up

“The grapevines have dried up, and the fig trees have withered. The pomegranate trees, palm trees, and apple trees--all the fruit trees--have dried up. And the people's joy has dried up with them.” Joel 1:12. Without the refreshment of water, and coupled with unbearable heat, plants, fruit, even people dry up.  I heard an older gentleman comment that this is the first summer he can remember ever having cabin fever!  Spring started out so early this year, and with so much promise, but as the weeks and months went by everything changed.  Rain evaded the fields, and temperatures of 100+ sucked up any moisture that remained in the subsoil. The hoped for bumper crops are now being made into silage or disked under.  The berries I had been waiting for withered and died, vine and all. Many people, not only farmers, are suffering from dried up joy. Spiritually we can all suffer this same fate, if we don’t keep ourselves watered and nourished on God’s word.  Bible reading and church services are only one way to maintain lushness. Surround yourself with enthusiastic people, read an uplifting book, listen to Christian radio and TV, find an encouraging blog, or better yet start one yourself.  During droughts, it’s a known fact that any surviving fruit will be sweeter because the natural plant sugar is forced into them.  So plant yourself near His stream, and let your roots go down deep.  Psalm 1. “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.”