The watering metaphor is an apt one. It reminds me of Isaiah 58:11-- "The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail."
I've learned something from my yard. Grass thrives on water, but so do weeds. Weeds grow like crazy if you let them. In the garden of the soul, grass is virtue, weeds are vices. The trick-- and it is tricky sometimes-- is to tell one from the other and feed the good stuff, starve the bad.
W. M. Hobbs is a professor of English and Wabash College graduate.
