When Was the Last Time You Watered This?

Read: John 4:4-42

“For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns That can hold no water.” – Jeremiah 2:13 NASB

 

I watched as the man strode through the doors that led in from the nursery.  His grumpy mood was evident to us all, but none more so than the staff member struggling to keep up as she tugged upon the green cart bearing his merchandise.

 “That’s twenty percent off,” he informed me, stabbing his finger towards the small Bristlecone Pine, “but it should be fifty.”

“Nope,” our nursery worker informed him, trying her best to suppress her irritation.  “Just twenty.”

“Well, it should be fifty,” he said again.  “When was the last time you watered this?  The Fourth of July?”

“It gets watered every night,” she politely responded, watching as I rang the purchase through the register.

Huffing, the man stuffed his credit card back into his wallet and signaled for the employee to follow him to the door.

She returned a moment later, obviously agitated, but only a little worse for the wear.  “If I hadn’t watered it since July, it would have been dead!” she complained, offering a whiny imitation of the customer’s complaint.

I grinned.  Sometimes customers just don’t see the obvious … and sometimes Christians don’t either.  Just like the tree in my story (which, I might add, was an excellent looking specimen), we as believers need regular watering if we’re to survive the droughts of life.  Only when we draw close to God (the only source of Living Water) can we be assured that we’ll have what we need when the time comes.

The biggest difference between us and a Bristlecone Pine?  While the tree depended upon our hard-working nursery staff for the moisture required, each Christian must take responsibility for himself.

Challenge: Are you taking time to “drink in” God’s Word?  If not, make the commitment to make a change.  Try to find five or ten minutes to read your Bible each day for the next few weeks.  You’ll be well on your way to the kind of “daily watering” program that we as believers need!