Living Water

“Don’t forget to water my flowers,” were the last words I uttered to Lauren and Elise before leaving for only two days. I asked my two daughters (both in college, both of average to above average intelligence, both employed, and both highly capable of watering flowers) to do nothing else while I was away. No laundry, cooking, cleaning, home repairs, not even pick up the mail. I only asked them to water my flowers.
Upon my return, my eyes were drawn to the wilted impatiens desperately clinging to life. “Why didn’t you water my flowers?” I asked the two girls who greeted me.
“We watered the ones in the backyard,” Elise proudly answered.
“How can you tell that we didn’t water the ones in the front?” Lauren asked, sincerely puzzled.
“Look at them!” I said, with much less patience than I am capable of expressing.
Pausing only to put down my suitcase, I gathered the family and said, “Let’s go to dinner.” (Remember, I never asked them to cook while I was away.) On the way to the car, I stopped to water the flowers
“I don’t think that will help,” said my son, Geoffrey.
“It’s not too late. They’re not dead yet,” I replied. The flowers were in good soil, the right location, properly fertilized, but in desperate need of water. There’s just no substitute for water.
Neither is there a substitute for Living Water. I believe that we all share a longing for God, as expressed by the psalmist who, in Psalm 42:2 wrote, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” No job, vacation, family, or friends can quench my thirst for God. That need was met in my life many years ago, when I surrendered my life to Jesus, the Savior of my soul. Through Him, the Fountain of Living Water, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are filled.
I have put my trust in the words Jesus told another thirsty woman, “but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:14.
When we returned home, Geoffrey was surprised to see that my flowers had perked up, and looked as though they would make it. “That’s amazing,” he said.
What’s really amazing is that on a much, much grander scale, Jesus can save, refresh, revive, and cause you to thrive when you trust in Him. It’s not too late.