I’ve been thinking a lot about water lately;
and in so many ways. One way that I am constantly reminded about water is that my daughter and I are doing a “drink a gallon a day” challenge. I know for some people this may be easy, but for me, it is most definitely not. I must persistently think about it all day long or I’m chugging my final three glasses at bedtime only to make myself sick with a stomachache. However, the benefits of staying hydrated are proven repeatedly. It’s a great challenge.
I’ve also been thinking about the need for water…for all living things. My husband, who always has something beautiful and blooming in my kitchen, recently brough home a flowering plant to beautify outside. It’s my job to keep it alive; and since I have many things to keep aliv
e, I sometimes forget to water my beautiful plants. Nothing alive can survive without water. Humans, animals, even plants all must have various amounts of the 3 molecules of atoms that make up H2O. It’s nourishing and life giving; essential and helpful.
Water can also cause great damage. Seeing the Grand Canyon displays this fact. Powerful streams of it can create the deepest caverns while even small drops can over time erode even the hardest surfaces. Water changes things.
Then my mind goes to the Scriptures.
Water.
Jesus.
He is the One who said, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them” (John 7:37-38). Jesus offers us the one substance which sustains us in all of life’s circumstances. He is the One who gives us nourishment, energy, and really everything we need to survive. Jesus is our Living Water.
Jesus is also the power that causes permanent change in each of us. Maybe His spirit rushes in and creates caverns in your soul, opening up those hard and wounded places to create streams of health and life. Maybe you’ve only allowed His spirit to come in small drips, but His persistency nevertheless makes a significant change over time. He is power.
And this final thought is what has really been running through my mind. Water reaches the places that other things cannot reach if given access. If you spill a cup of water, there is no containing the perimeter of where that water will go.
The same is true with our lives. When we allow the Holy Spirit of God full access to our lives, there is no place in our hearts and souls that is off limits. And HE changes us. It may happen slowly, over time, like the drips on hard rock. Nevertheless, He will cause change. It may occur quickly like a flood and totally disorient you, yet His refinement is always good.
My prayer is that we intake the Living Water of God on a daily basis and let Him work in our lives to create in us caverns of His peace and presence. That we would become fountains of Living Water that others look to when life gets hard…only so we can point them to Him, and they too can be filled. Remember that all living things need water to live; just as all of us need Jesus to truly live and for eternal life.