Be the Cool Water

(Jesus said) "... I was thirsty and you gave me drink...." - Matthew 25:35

I'm sorry I've been absent a few weeks. After the tragedy in Uvalde, the words were hard to come. Last week we had some family health issues I was helping with, and next week I'll be doing VBS with my daughter's church. That being said, I'm here now, and glad to spend some time with you again today.

It's getting to be that time of year again. I need to stock the fridge with bottled water and Gatorade to have something cool on hand to pass out to our mailman and the guys who pick up our brush and trash. It was 104 here this week, and we haven't even officially hit summer yet. I like to say "thank you" to our service providers in this way, because I know it's something they need and very much appreciate, especially when the temps are soaring.

Everything here outside is struggling. I have an old, square washtub on my deck out back filled with two varieties of mint. Though the container is situated under the shade cover, I've had to water it lately both in the morning and in the late afternoon... poor plants keep sagging in-between. They just can't take this heat.

It got me thinking about people, people whose lives and or circumstances have left them dry, parched, and wilted. I thought about how wonderfully those sagging mint plants revive after being given a cool drink of water, and I wished to be that... that cool drink... for anyone who could really use one.

Just like plants in the midday sun, individuals can be scorched by stinging words, hurtful comments, neglect, ridicule. Being caught in loveless marriages, one-way friendships, dead-end jobs, addiction... you name it, can suck the life right out of a person. We all need validation. We all need encouragement and understanding. We all need friendship and love... and when we instead are bombarded with ugliness or ridicule... or perhaps even worse, treated as if we were invisible, given no recognition at all... well, that's when the spirit dries up and wastes away.

What if we could each be that cool drink of water for others. It doesn't take much, truly. A smile, an acknowledgment, a sincere compliment, a listening ear, a word of thanks. That's it. Cool water reviving parched roots. Now one drink of water might not do it for the long haul, but if we were all in this together... one drink here, a splash there, a douse somewhere farther along, could change the outcome for that plant, don't you think? Aren't we all worth that? A few drops of water... a minute of our time to uplift the wilting heart.

As a believer, as a Christian, that is what I am called to do... to be. If I can't be bothered with the task of watering, how will I ever be able to point people to the One who gives Living Water... the One who can cause a spring to well up inside a thirsty soul, reviving it to eternal life?! I would argue it would be next to impossible to be done. Without empathy and compassion for those hurting, I have missed the very essence of who Jesus is... and just what He has so selflessly done for me, because that cool drink of water... water He so freely gives... touched. me. first.

I know life can be hectic. I know we're all busy, but we were put here on this earth for a reason. We have a purpose and an almighty plan to enact. I used to tell my kids that the meaning of life... of why we are here... is really not a hard question at all when answered through the lens of faith. We are here first and foremost to give God glory in all we do and say. That's actually a pretty tall order, and one, I might add, that I personally have to work on and apologize shortcomings for every day. Second, we are here to help our neighbor, to love them the way God loved us first.

That's a pretty simple answer to life's biggest question... and much harder to do than say, but it's true nonetheless. We are here...

to water.

May God bless our humble efforts.