But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit. (Jeremiah 17:7-8)

The summer of 1999 was a

memorable one for the East Coast. Hideous brown lawns, flowers strangled by drought, drooping leaves and short tempers were sure evidence of months of rainlessness accompanied with extremely high temperatures. Often, as I walked up the driveway from my car, I marveled at how both grass and weeds responded quite differently to the very same adversity. Thorn-covered weeds grew tall and multiplied in the midst of the lack of water. They actually defied the adverse weather conditions and continued to thrive. God used those weeds to teach me a new lesson. In fact, I concluded that it might be a good thing to be a weed some times!

Even though we may suffer various trials in our lives, we can make the choice to defy them, to remain green, and to become even greener. Our adverse circumstances do not have to cause our demise. On the contrary, they can cause us to develop "long roots" that go down deep into the soil of our trials and produce life, not ordinary life, but life that is abundant and rich. Our hardships can work to aid us in developing "tough skin" for tough times!

Grass and flowers are delicate and vanish quickly in a drought; weeds are divinely designed to be rugged, tenacious, enduring, and defiant. Weeds actually glorify the Creator when they refuse to give in! Likewise, are we not called to be "heavy duty" in our Christian walk? Doesn't Paul encourage us to "run the race with perseverance" and not to "throw away our confidence or shrink back?" What an encouraging lesson we can extract from such an insignificant and despised thing as a weed! Take heart saints, for it is never about the weather conditions, but all about the choice to glorify our God by fixing our eyes on Him as we stand in times like these. The next time you pull out those tenacious weeds, thank God for the lesson of tenacity that ugly old thing is teaching you!

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I marvel at how you reveal such deep spiritual truths to us through the ordinary things of life. Thank you for giving us eyes to see and hearts to learn from your creation. Give us daily strength and wisdom to become like the weeds, refusing to allow our adverse circumstances to dry us up. Instead, help us to be the only green things found on the landscape of your world. May we never faint or fear when the "drought" of our lives begins to set in. Amen.

Encouragement Tip: Help a caregiver to remain green and tenacious by occasionally opening your home as a kind of weekend "Bed and Breakfast" for the purpose of respite. What a 2-way blessing this can become!