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| Last year's yield was like this every day! |
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| The hubby made a canopy for shade. |
Today, my garden just "gave up the ghost". Yep, in one day, it stopped struggling against this Oklahoma heat and lost it's will to live. It's supposed to reach 109 degrees today and go up to 113 degrees later this week. So many days in a row, this searing sun we've been under. Last years garden yielded more than we could manage ourselves. We gave vegetables away to any one we could find to take them. This year...no tomatoes, no cucumbers, no bell peppers, no lettuce, spinach, carrots, squash, cantaloupe and on and on and on... The sweat and time and care we put into it everyday, was it wasted? Was it for nothing? My husband even put a canopy over the garden during the really scorching hours of the day to protect what was trying to produce, what wanted to live.
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| Sweet basil |
The only thing that the heat didn't conquer were my herbs...hearty little things! I've been cooking with fresh herbs all summer long. There is nothing like serving up a home cooked meal that has seeped in the juice and aroma of fresh herbs. I've just picked the last of them though. Hopefully, they will last in some water in the house for a while...maybe squeeze a few more meals out of them. If I'm lucky, some of them will take root!
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| Chocolate mint basil |
Life can have us under a pressure cooker, like a 109 degree sun. It can seem to drag on heavy and dry. Weary bones. Do we let our soul wither and shrivel or do we dig in deep, roots going as far as they can? Water. Sweet Holy Spirit. Water to our soul. It can refresh, revive, renew. Even on days where there seems to be no sign of life, go digging...it's there. You can always find a sprig of hope or joy or peace, waiting to be cultivated, pulled from among the lifeless dead stems. I dug around today and found some green in the midst of the brown. I thought it was all dead. I'm so glad I looked closer. It gave me hope. Now my house is filled with the fragrance of the basil, rosemary, and lavender.
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| Cinnamon basil |
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| Lavender |
Time spent in prayer, on His lap, I can feel the water course through my life again. And just as the fresh herbs add flavor and spice to my cooking, the Lord adds flavor and spice to my life. I'm glad He loves me enough to go digging deeper, prune back the lifeless "stuff" to find a sprig of life in me. He'll water me and I will grow roots and be strong and vibrant. A Gardener who doesn't give up when there's been a drought. He's so merciful and thoughtful, so devoted to His creation, His seed. He'll water, He'll cut away whatever is not producing fruit. But He'll never cut us off! He'll make sure our roots are buried deep in Him, a wellspring of life. I love my Gardener. My soul thirsts for Him, for His pruning, for His watering. When He works on me, it is well with my soul.
From His Lap,
