Sunday, September 21, 2014

Life-Giving Moisture



Earlier this week we were blessed with rain! While it made for a couple of extremely hot and humid days (especially in the gym), the precipitation presented the ground with a chance at new life. I used to think of the desert as this bland and changeless ecosystem. Now my eyes have been opened to the beauty and miracle of the rain that can, in the course of a few hours, transform the surrounding landscape. Our backyard, for instance, went from a brown and barren sand lot to, well, still a sand lot but with a fabulous faint carpet of grass. Though small, even a few clusters of small yellow flowers have sprung new life! It amazes me to realize that when it is dry and hot as it has been since we moved here, seeds remain dormant just waiting for God to bless them with enough moisture to produce incredible life.

The same can be said of my walk with Christ. There are many times when I experience drought. The drying process occurs over a long period of time and I barely take notice of the Living Water that I am lacking. Before long, I am withered and despaired, seeking answers and longing for renewal. Then God sends me a thoughtful friend, an applicable devotional, or that perfect sermon and it is like the springs of God’s love are flung open when in reality it is the floodgates of my heart that are once again opened wide, ready to seek and receive God’s will for my life.

I know that in time this new life in the desert will shrivel and burn but it makes me so grateful that Christ nourishes me with his living water. For he said: “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 4:13-14

Yay for flowers!