tan brown to straw colored

I've lived in a desert region. I know a good dust storm and the importance of irrigating. I know when my curly hair won't bend and I might as well just give up and blow dry it straight for the day.  I know dry.  This summer Michigan has experienced dry. Like drought, dry.  An article talking about lawn care said you know your lawn is in trouble when you see the color of your grass go from tan brown to straw colored. My husband and I kind of chuckled at the beginning of the dry spell...like "Is there really a difference?"  Well, friends...there's a difference. I saw it today.  Patches of our grass were definitely straw-colored vs. the tan brown.  Everything is so, so dry.  Even my ivy is getting crispy. There's a sense of urgency in getting the sprinkler out there.  Before we could get by without watering. We could rely on the shade of trees, the dew of the morning, a sprinkle here and there.  But not today. The conditions of no rain and high heat have withered the fruit of the earth.  Water is unconditional for survival. If we do not soak the ground and garden now, the harvest may be lost.
The more I walk with Jesus, the more I feel the growing dryness of my soul when I do not spend time drinking and filling my cup on the banks of His River.  His presence.  As the body shows signs of dehydration, so follows my soul.  Instead of a dry, cotton mouth, a headache or fatigue, I see His Life Flow withering...more selfishness, criticism, negativity, self-pity...no fruit.  Ahhhh...but when I sit at The River in prayer. When I stand under the shower of His Word.  When I listen to Streams of Truth from the Spirit...then my soul gets chills in the Soak. I am revived. I feel life and perspective and the hope of Fruit and Harvest again.  I need Water like my grass needs the sprinkler.  And I cannot rely on the "shade of the occasional sermon", the "dew of a worship song", a "a sprinkle of the Word" here or there.  Oh! May I heed the warning signs of a tan-brown spirit! May I stay so connected to the Water Source that I am ever-green.  In seasonal droughts like this one you can always tell which neighbors have a well as their water source.  Those of us with city water have to pay to sprinkle...and so we don't until necessary.  Those with a well have lawns that are lush, green, soft and tender even in the midst of intensely arid, hot, harsh days on end.  God's children have a Well....we just have to stay connected to it.  We have to draw from it...every day. Every. Day.  May the God who refreshes our souls remind us to come to Him. Before we get brittle.  Especially when we are brittle.  He restores. He renews. He waters. He fills.  I don't know about you, but I think I'm feeling like I could use a drink :)

Grace and peace,
shawna