We’re having an unusually green July around here. Usually the lawns without sprinkler systems are already turning brown and crunchy this time of year. Instead, they are thick and green. Foliage is lush beside the country roads and everything looks more like spring than mid-summer. It’s because of the rain, of course. Lots and lots and lots of rain. Too much rain, actually, for the farmers trying to plant crops. But that is another story.
Today’s story is about being green. Not the composting-your-garbage and recycling-your-milk-cartons kind of green. Rather, it is the green of healthy plants, sucking nutrients from the soil and spreading out leaves, branches, and fruit to shelter and feed the world.The kind of green that reminds me of Psalm 92:
The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,
they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;
planted in the house of the LORD,
they will flourish in the courts of our God.
They will still bear fruit in old age,
they will stay fresh and green,
proclaiming, “The LORD is upright;
he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”
Now that I have passed the age of fifty, I’m greatly reassured by this passage. I’ve kind of expected life to get brown and wiry from here on out. I’ve worried a little that my best days are behind me and I’ll never have a real writing career or impact another generation for God.
This scripture tells me otherwise. Like the unseasonably green July of 2009, I can stay green and full of sap even into old age. All I need is a little rain.
Love it. I love that you know you're not brown and wiry, and I love the bible's poetic use of trees. Those are some of the most refreshing scriptures.
Thanks! I too hang onto these verses in Ps. 92! They comfort and reassure me "the best is yet to come!"
I love your insight. You are great with those thought provoking concluding sentences. "All I need is rain." Gives the reader a chance to meditate it into his life. Wonderful economy of words, too. Staying on point really builds the impact of your thought. There is nothing crunchy about your grass, girl!
You still look lush and green from here! 🙂
YOU……OLD?!?!? I can't imagine it! 🙂