Seven consecutive hours of yard work in 100+ degree heat will either teach you or break you -- maybe both. Today, in the last hour of my best professional landscaper impersonation, I realized I was running a little low on hydration. I'd been drinking water all morning long, but nearly stumbling behind the mower and having trouble focusing my eyes made me realize I was entering the dehydration zone. But only five more passes across the lawn and I'm done...
Somewhere near the last pass across the backyard, I saw visual evidence for the value of life that water brings. From the edge of the house out about 20 feet toward the back fence the grass was lush, thick and deep green (a strange sight these days in North Texas with our drought imposed water restrictions) and the grass the rest of the way to the fense is brown and struggling merely for survival.
"What could account for the difference?" I wondered in my nearly halucinate curiousity. Then it hit me. Last week we had a couple rain storms (brief, but appreciated in light of the drought) and I realized all the rain that fell on the roof had run into the yard and likely doubled or tripled the amount of water that had fallen in the back of the yard just off the house.
On the last pass across the yard, I remembered an event with Jesus and his encounter with a woman at a well. A Samaritan woman had come to a well to draw water and Jesus asked her for a drink. The woman protested on the basis of improper social interactions between Jews and Samaritans, but Jesus replied, "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" (John 4:10).
After a brief exchange, the woman said, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water." Of course she didn't fully grasp what Jesus was saying, but then I wonder if we do either?
Access to "living water" is there for the taking. Like a storm shower producing downpours of water on a large roof, all the living water we need is right there! All we need to do is step into the source and enjoy more spiritual nourishment than we can handle. But, if you're like me, too often I find myself out in the deeper part of the yard, struggling to even stay "green" (pardon the pun). I will take just enough nourishment to stay alive, but to be deep and lush and beautifully green is far too infrequent for me.
It has taken until early evening to recover from the day's dehydration. I ate a little, drank nearly a gallon of water and took a nap. I'm starting to feel normal again, but not without the water that sustains physical life. I want the same desperation for nourishing spiritual water to stay consistent in my spiritual life as well.
How about you?
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