Tag: living water

Are you Spiritually Thirsty?

While I was visiting my folks in Texas, my grown daughter Jenny took this photograph of my mom’s kitten. He had a crippled leg and dragged himself up to the edge of the water bucket so he could drink.

The photo made me think of John 7:37,38 when Jesus stood and cried out saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.'”

Are you spiritually thirsty? There’s only One way to quench your thirst. So take the time this week to drink.

 

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Photography: JennyWredePhotography

When Spirits are Bone-dry

This is my yard in the summer.

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And this is my yard.

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Both patches of earth are inches apart, and have access to the same water running beneath the ground. Why the difference?

Part of my yard is tapped into the underground irrigation system; the other is not.

Duh, tell me something, I don’t know, Karen.

Tell me what to do when my spirit is bone-dry.

  • How do I smile and pretend life is great when one dog-day somersaults into the next, and the horizon seems to flat line into nothingness?
  • How do I avoid feeling jaded when I strive to live right while the other guy reaps the rewards?
  • What if this is good as life gets?

Daunting questions when the spirit is dry on an August day.

By 8:00 a.m., the air is already thick as a wool blanket.

I’m parched as the squirrels that guzzle water from my birdbaths. Plants droop despite the drip lines that watered them a few hours earlier. My cat is stretched out on the warm grass, her lids half closed.

My motivation to pull weeds evaporates like the water drops clinging to my ivy. I plop on the bench swing. I need more than a glass of water or the hum of an air conditioner to chill my mood.

Stuck on Self, I need to tap into the Living Water. Lord, please evict the melancholy from the tenant.   

I know, same old Christian song and dance, right? But some things never change.

Meeting with the good Lord is the surest fix for a bone-dry spirit.

  • Not talking about flipping through Bible pages like I’m hunting for coupons.
  • Not talking about randomly pulling a verse out of context to choke down like a vitamin pill; hoping I’ll have a feel-good day.

I’m talking about camping on one passage. Laying down my burdens, and allowing God to to excavate my heart.      

Lord, you want me to become more like you and bring you praise? Then use even this…

Use my melancholy and the dog-days of life to teach me how to smile, and truly be glad in this day.

Rid me of spiritual indifference that blinds me to the Light or makes me lukewarm.

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Lift my chin heavenward like the ivy vines that stretch up my pine trees towards the sunlight.

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Jesus told the woman at Jacob’s well, “Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” (John 4)

  • Whenever the spirit is bone-dry: “Come and drink.”
  • Whenever life appears hopeless: “Come and drink.”
  • Whenever we’re sweating the small stuff: “Come and drink.”

Drink until your thirst is quenched, then drink some more.

Drink until the Living Water springs up and bubbles over into the lives around us. 

Have you come to Jesus?

Are you drinking regularly?

 

Is Your Well Dry?

Turn on the kitchen faucet. Not a drop of water.

Discover our well pump gave up the ghost, no longer works. Which means we don’t shower, wash dishes or clothes, water the plants or lawn, or flush toilets.

Have to wait three days to resolve the problem. So we stock up on bottled water to drink and brush our teeth. Pretend we’re camping.

Besides our human needs, my outdoor plants droop beneath a glaring sun. Blades of green grass are fringed with brown in the 98-degree heat.  Squirrels search empty bird baths for a cool drink.

 Psalm 42:1 comes to mind: “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.”

Is that so?

1) Does my soul pant for God? Or is it passive?

2) Do I recognize my spiritual dry spells? Realize its impact?

 Jesus told the Samaritan woman who came to draw water from a well, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?  

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:10-14)

Like that woman, I’ve been to the well. I drank the Living Water. Was saved, sanctified, and satisfied.

I’m so dependent on the “spring of water” that I can’t imagine my life without Christ any more than I can manage my house without running water.

Even so, how often do I needlessly drag my body through the dry desert, relying on my man-made camel back instead of Christ to satisfy my inner thirst?

Whine and wonder why I’m scraping in the sand for something to quench my thirst, like the raccoon that bit off the head of my underground sprinkler in search of water, instead of going to the well.  

Those were the thoughts dripping in my mind as I waited for the installation of our new pump, followed by my joyful outburst when the cold water flowed like heaven-sent rain from our faucets.

Reminding me, even in this, how grateful I am for Jesus, the Living Water.       

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