Out of nowhere, the cold front came and hit my area, killing off my plants. No one could ever accuse me of having a green thumb, but I never give up on planting stuff. This time around, my plants had faced a double whammy. The cold front only expedited the inevitable. I did not water my plants consistently, and the once-green leaves had withered away. The tall stalks had bent over in suffocation. Even my cactus was drying out. I was a plant killer, and the cold front was my accomplice. I did not realize that my plants were a full-blown reflection myself. I was dying slowly, and it was because I was not being watered.

In my personal devotional with the Lord, I shared with Him my thoughts “I was dying.” Something was wrong with my body and my spirit knew it, even if my mind did not understand the situation. I was not even in my 4th decade of life, and my body began to break down. One week it was a cyst in the back of my knee; next it was my back, which turned out to be sciatica, that caused my legs and buttocks to go numb. The stiffness and my body to just put on my pants made dresses a more accessible option for me. WHAT WAS GOING ON?

The scale made it clear, I was less than 5 pounds away from hitting the 300 club. I didn’t know how to get out of this rut; I was dying. And then the cold front came. It seemed like everything that I attempted to do or accomplish would fail. I put my heart out there in my work, asking people to join with me in celebration, and the only response I get is my mother. She’s the sunshine in my dark days. I felt isolated from the world because of my inability to live a healthy life and separated from society because I could not find the “magic” bullet needed to penetrate the social media algorithm.

Then the rain came. And although my plants are either underneath my porch or covered by my patio, somehow, drops of rainwater found their way into the dry potted plants. And what was once dry and lifeless, covered in dead foliage, sprouted green blades of hope. The plants that I was going to throw out, I decided to water them on a consistent basis. To pour into them care and purposefulness. And after a few weeks, what was once dead is fully alive and thriving!

If a little bit of rainwater can revitalize a few dried lifeless flora, what could the water that Jesus offers do for me? For He said, “whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:14-15 ESV.

Was it possible that my dried-up life, could partake of this spring of water, and hope could spring again? I certainly hope so.