Water in Abundance

     “On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him’ By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.” *

When the weather turned out to be sunny and clear one Saturday morning, Al and I decided that we’d better take the opportunity to plant annuals and also a vegetable garden. It was mid-May, yet spring in Michigan seemed a long time in coming and winter a long time in going!

In spite of several rainy days, dump trucks had delivered piles of mulch to homes around the neighborhood during the previous week,. One of our neighbors was upset when the piles of mulch were dumped in the wrong place, making a lot more wheelbarrowing for her. Her whole family showed up on that nice Saturday morning and spent the day helping distribute it around the yard.      

Why so much additives to the existing dirt? We discovered soon after moving here that the soil was adobe and that when it dried out during the summer, it baked like clay bricks in a kiln. Anything to keep in the moisture was beneficial in helping plants survive the summer heat.

People here were happy when they were recently given permission to go shopping at nurseries and greenhouses. Earlier that week, Al and I had joined a crowd of “do it yourself” gardeners at a busy Home and Garden center, all with the same idea of buying plants. Even though everyone was wearing a mask, it was hard not to bump into each other. But we stayed outside and kept moving as we walked through the aisles of flowers and vegetables.

What a great display of color…a treat for the eyes! It wasn’t long before we had two carts filled with eight-packs of red, white, pink and purple petunias, red impatiens and orange variegated marigolds. We also picked out a large tomato plant, a couple varieties of lettuce, peppers, and some cabbage plants…  as much as two small garden beds could hold.

All Saturday morning to mid-afternoon was spent mulching the garden beds, planting the vegetables and potting the flowers. Many of the eight-packs of petunias and impatiens turned out to be difficult to remove from their containers due to staying on the shelves too long—roots had grown from one small plant to the other in a tangled mess. Some were dried out and in great need of water.

While I was soaking the newly potted plants using the watering can, Teddy the dog licked up the puddles of dirty water oozing out from them. Why would he prefer the muddy water to his clean water bowl? A mystery!

Why use the watering can? Al thought there would still be enough rain to keep the ground moist and the plants well-watered without taking the hoses from the basement where they had been stored for the winter. He was right! A record amount of rain fell on Sunday and Monday. So much rain in fact that two dams burst, forcing people to evacuate from their homes near Midland, Michigan.

Being from the central valley of California, where it is hot and dry from now to mid-October, I still find it hard to believe that so much water can fall from the sky in such a short period of time! Not a storm passes by without my thanking God profusely for providing the rain and praying for areas of the country in the midst of drought.

It felt good to spend the day outside planting, like a drink of fresh water to my dried-up soul. It was a reminder of God’s abundant grace, grace that is always available to us. Why be thirsty or lap up water from puddles? We only need come to His streams of living water and drink!

Dear Father, thank you for the reminder to come to you and drink of your living water. Forgive us for trying to satisfy our thirsty souls any other way. Thank you for Jesus who makes possible abundant life, overflowing life through the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. In His precious name, Amen.

*John 7:37-39 NIV