Trust in the Lord and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Psalm 37:3 (NASV)
This is an excerpt taken from my first devotional book Villa in the Hilla:
I’ve been thinking about the words “cultivate faithfulness” from Psalm thirty-seven. The psalmist encourages me to “Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.” Earlier this week I replanted cuttings of the last plant that survived our move to the new house in the “hilla” (village). It was actually a plant that belonged to a good friend of mine who had finished her contract and returned to the States. The plant was dying right at the stem, so I cut off five pieces toward the top and replanted them. Of course, if we evacuate, my plants will die. Talk of evacuation seems to be a part of life here. We have often made packing lists of things to bring should we have to leave quickly. More recently, we have actually packed bags with changes of clothes and our important papers. I knew that evacuation was imminent the other night when I discovered that our house mouse had reserved her own spot in my “to go” bag!
We had been trying to catch a mouse in our house for a couple of weeks.
We’d see evidence in the kitchen that a mouse had been rummaging around for midnight snacks. The mouse itself, however, was elusive. One night, while Kris was away, I was lying in bed reading a book before turning off the light. I noticed some movement out of the corner of my eye and I looked across the room. There, on top of our “to go” (evacuation) bag was a mouse! I am not sure if it speaks more to my fatigue that day, or to a new level of low standards that I had arrived at that I simply through a tarha (head scarf) at the mouse (who easily dodged it), then flipped off the light and went to sleep. The next morning I looked in the bag. Sure enough, our little house mouse had chewed up the extra change of clothes and a few papers (even a 10 Euro bill!) to make a little nest. I knew evacuation was imminent if even the mice in the village were making preparations to be on the next plane out!!
So, why was I out in our hosh (outside area) carefully cutting and replanting and watering my new little plants?
Somehow replanting those cuttings and carefully watering them each day reminded me to invest in the days that I do have here, no matter how few or how many they are. As I got my hands dirty and re-potted, I was thinking to myself, My time here in this country is for cultivating faithfulness:
faithfulness to God…
faithfulness to His call in my life…
faithfulness to my family…
faithfulness to my role in the work here…
faithfulness in prayer…
faithfulness in the daily tasks of living…
faithfulness to share Christ.
My five little plants may shrivel and die next week if, we evacuate…or I may have the time to plant and watch a tree grow in our yard! I have no idea how much time I’ll have here. I need to leave that to the Lord and just water my plants (the real and figurative ones) every day…cultivate faithfulness!
How are you cultivating faithfulness where you live?