Summer half term – found me in East Sussex – walking in an apple orchard. The sun
was shining – it was a lovely day – all looked well. The only thing that was amiss was
the state of the ground – rock solid with cracks everywhere – some as much as an inch
wide – the land in desperate need of water. Unless sufficient rain was forthcoming the
future was bleak. No rain would mean that all that which seemed to be fine that day
would before long be sick and even beyond the point of fruitfulness. Water needed!
And, of course, the trees are not the only living things which need water. I remember
being dehydrated once because I had walked too far on a lovely hot sunny day with no
hat and nothing to drink! Not a pleasant experience.
It is not just our bodies that need water either: we need that ‘water’ which refreshes and enlivens the person I am. Too easily we can continue for long periods, years, even a lifetime, without drinking in the ‘water’ that keeps the ‘me’ alive. Jesus understood this and offered to all who would come to Him the ‘living water’ which would well up from within to give us a life which would last – seeing us through to eternity. The cracks in the soil were signs that water was needed. Do we recognise the cracks that warn us of a drought of the presence of Jesus without which life, as it was intended to be, will wither and die? To what extent might we be like those apple trees? – bathed in sunshine, but in danger of dying because of no ‘water’? Unlike the apple trees which cannot influence the rain, we can call out to Christ for that ‘living water’ which he delights to give us as we ask.
With my prayers, Jim Stevens