Dry Growth

Growth in the dry season

I went on a brief stroll recently down by the local river. At the time there had not been much rain so portions of the river bed were exposed with those tempting stony patches which give great opportunity for stone skimming. I do not know the last time I had a chance to do that, so I made the most of the opportunity.

While skimming a few stones and chatting to God, I noticed in amongst the now dry stones, a plant growing up strongly between the rocks. Now, I do not know much about plants, and it was probably a weed, but without reading too much into it it made me think of something. A seed had obviously fallen between those rocks, if the weather had been too wet, it would either been drowned or carried off, never to grow. However, in the dry season, that seed grew.

Hidden seeds of faith have room to grow in dry seasons

That's right. Things that are unknown, buried but things that God has planted, are sometimes only given room to grow during a dry season or time of trial. What we call dry seasons can be hard, but that does not mean that God is doing nothing in your life, in fact, the dry time may be the time that is absolutely necessary to allow some unexpected things to grow in our lives. And, from another point of view, the unexpected fruit or growth in an apparent dry season is all the more beautiful, it points further to God's own beauty and glory.

Sometimes, dry seasons are caused by us letting go of God, letting go of our God given identity, perhaps not even consciously. It can also be caused by refusing to listen to God and respond to him such as Jonah's struggles and more significantly, the Israelites 40 years wandering in the wilderness. Sometimes the dryness is simply the difference between hot weather causing something to be dry and forgetting to drink and becoming dehydrated. The latter can be resolved with a bit of faith and encouragement, the former, not so much but must be endured patiently to see what comes of it.

In all of the above, God can draw good things out of them. He can grow character, strengths, resilience and much more. If your dry season is due to your choices, take responsibility, remember who you are in God, take faith and strength that God will not leave you nor forsake you and turn back to him. However, if your dry season is out of your control, take courage, look for the seeds which now have an opportunity to take root and grow, and even bear fruit.