Peace I leave with you; My [perfect] peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid. [Let My perfect peace calm you in every circumstance and give you courage and strength for every challenge.] JOHN 14:27 AMP 

Humans and houseplants don’t share the same biological makeup, but we share some of the same tendencies, especially when it comes to stress. Plants begin to show signs of stress in a drought. Without water, they’ll sag, wilt, turn their leaves inward, and shrivel up. 

Humans show signs of stress in spiritual droughts. When life gets busy, we have discouraging days, or we simply don’t feel like it, we let go of what we need most—time in God’s presence—foolishly thinking it’s one of the easiest things to give up. 

Our spiritual trade-offs do more damage than we realize. We skip time with God in one part of our day, trying to gain time in another, thinking such a small decision is no big deal; but it throws off our entire day because our hearts aren’t right. Maybe we’re unintentionally short with people. Perhaps we just feel off and can’t explain why. We easily forget how essential it is for us to be in God’s presence. It’s not only about making time in our schedules. The matter of our hearts means so much more than the minutes of our day. 

When we prioritize time with God, we make space for Him. We clear out all those weeds of stress, distraction, and chaos until we have a peaceful clearing with ample room to experience God’s presence. He’s fully capable of reaching us without “spiritual weeding,” but when we pull the weeds of stress from our hearts, we discover abundantly more capacity to drink our fill of Him. No interference. No obstructions. Nothing competing for our attention. Just us and Jesus. His presence is like a gentle rain falling on parched ground, refreshing and reviving our spirits, minds, and hearts. 

God, when I get stressed, I forget You. Forgive me for doing this time and time again. Help me avoid spiritual drought by regularly spending time with You, being refreshed in Your care. 

This is an excerpt from Playing in the Dirt: 90 Devotions for Crazy Plant Ladies – a new devotional journal now available for pre-order on DaySpring.com. Shop all books, journals, and devotions from DaySpring here.