Our Season of Abundance

In case you haven’t noticed IT’S HOT!!  I heard someone say it’s so hot that the devil left town and went back home.  However if you have ever spent a summer in Texas, you know that is the way August is here.  It should not surprise us that it is hot.  I was actually surprised that it took so long for it to really get hot.  The heat is nothing new.  There is, however, one thing that is different this year compared to the last few summers: there are no watering restrictions.  People are watering their lawns daily without the fear of a city citation.  While we have not had any rain worth reporting in a couple of months, lakes and reservoirs remain full.  The heavy rains of April and May have allowed us to endure the scorching heat of August. 

So it is in our spiritual lives.  Our season of blessing allows us to endure the heat of testing.  Proverbs 6:6-8 lifts up the example of the ant.  When food is available, the ant puts some away for the time when food will not be readily available.  So many times, during our season of abundance, we don’t think about the possibility of drought.  We may even forget about the droughts of our past.  However, wisdom dictates that we prepare for drought during our seasons of abundance.  Financially, that could mean saving your tax refund or not spending your pay raise.  Emotionally, it looks like being there for others in their hour of need.  Spiritually, it can be being a peacemaker for others, since you never know when you are going to need the intervention of a peacemaker in your relationships.  It can be sharpening your marriage skills while things are going well, so that you will have some usable tools for the rough patches that may be on the horizon.  What you do during the blessings of spring greatly shapes how you endure the drought of summer.