Water from the Spring

In my part of the country we have experienced unbelievable drought in the last several years. I have experienced this in an up close and personal kind of way. You see, our home water supply is a mountain spring. Last year that spring dried up. Which means.......no water! It is not a good feeling to turn on the faucet and get nothing! Not a drop! So, besides being terribly inconvenienced, we had to buy a lot of bottled water and look for an alternative water supply. Water was piped to our reservoir from a well located farther up the mountain. This was proving to be a reasonable solution to our problem, until cold weather came and we realized that the pipe connecting the well and reservoir had never been buried. Result.....the water in the pipe froze and there we were again - no water! I confess that I did not have a particularly positive attitude during these experiences.

Thankfully, over the last several weeks we have been blessed with abundant rain and snow, and the result is that our spring is revived. We are no longer dependent on the well, but are once again getting wonderful, pure water right from our spring. Thank you, God!

I've been thinking about how this is a picture of many Christians' lives. I have often heard people describe their Christianity as stale. I have experienced "dry seasons" in my own life. What does that have to do with my spring? Well, before we get to that, let me make clear that the account of my dry spring and alternative water source is in no way an endorsement of seeking an "alternate source" for your Christian growth. It is in fact quite the opposite.

Our spring dried up because it was no longer being fed by its source (in this case the water table deep in the mountain). Our Christianity "dries up" when it loses its connection to the Source. How do we keep that connection? I believe by consistent communication......through prayer, through time in the Word of God, as well as through fellowship with other believers. Our spring dried up because it was no longer being fed (our rain gauge measured 6 inches of precipitation for the entire year 2007!). Just as a tomato plant, for example, cannot be stuck in the ground and expected to grow and bear fruit without being fed and watered, neither can we expect to grow in our faith without being fed and watered by the the Water of the Word. I think this is what Paul was talking about when he told the Philippian Christians to "work out" their salvation.....not to work "for" it, but to "work it out". Salvation is a free gift, but growth requires effort on our part. It must be intentional.

Then we can be what God intends us to be...."like a watered garden and a like a spring of water whose waters fail not." (Isaiah 58:11, Amplified Bible). There may be many reasons why our spiritual lives turn stale, but they don't have to stay that way. God is willing to give us His strength daily for our weakness, His freshness for our staleness. And isn't that exciting?!