Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” (John 4:13-14)
On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’” (When he said “living water,” he was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him. But the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet entered into his glory.) (J0hn 7:37-39)
I really love to be by the water, a fountain, a creek, a river…oceans are my absolute favorite. I could sit at the ocean all day every day just listening to those waves crashing on the shore and never get bored.
There is something so peaceful and so refreshing about listening to water. There is something refreshing about drinking a cold glass of water on a hot day or diving into the ocean when it’s scorching outside. It cools you off. It fills you up. It re-energizes you.
Jesus talks a few times about living water. He talks about wells and rivers. He talks about living water bubbling up in us and flowing out from us. We don’t have to go someplace to get rejuvenated. Refreshing lives in us. It goes with us wherever we go.
I went through a season that was very dry…..super dry….drought dry. I had no strength. I felt that I had nothing to give. All I could think was, “I need a break. I need to get out of here. I need a vacation.” My kids were very young, so I wasn’t sleeping much, and we all know how draining it can be to have a 3 year old, a 19-month old and a 1-month old. Yikes! Things were super busy for my husband at church, so he wasn’t home much. And I worked a part-time job. DRY!
I pinned all my hopes of rest and refreshing on getting away. And finally, my husband and I got to go for a couple nights to a hotel. Whew. Rest! Refreshing! Here it comes!
But no….the hotel was under construction (which they failed to tell us) and they were working on the room right next to ours. Those workers firmly believed that the early bird gets the worm and working late was a virtue. Ugh!
I marched down to the front desk after the second night – totally unrefreshed in my pajamas with my make-up smeared under my eyes – and let them know just how unrefreshed I was….I think I was even in tears. I was desperate! They gave us a refund and apologized profusely, but that didn’t change the fact that I was going back to my unrefreshing life totally unrefreshed.
Then, He sweetly led me to study on living a refreshed life. I began to see that it was possible to live a refreshed life daily. In my home. Even with 3 small kids. Even not getting much sleep. Even with the busy schedule we had to keep. I could LIVE refreshed. I didn’t have to get away to do it. How?
Wells spring up. Rivers flow out. The answer was in me the whole time. I just had to let the rivers flow.
Sometimes our well gets clogged with distractions and duty and everything that pulls at our attention. Sometimes our pump needs primed, so to speak. God told the Israelites once to sing to the well to get it flowing. Psalm 19:7 says, “The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing my soul.”
His presence refreshes. His Word refreshes. And we don’t have to get away to access that refreshing. Jesus said, “Anyone who is thirsty, COME TO ME.“ That’s all we have to do to live refreshed is come to Him. Oh, I still like to get away. I still go on vacation. But I don’t have to go there to get refreshed….I can live in the place of refreshing if I choose to.
I’m not perfect at it yet. I still find myself starting to get dry. I sometimes let the busy-ness and stress and hectic pace of life pull me from that refreshing. But it’s as easy as come to Me.
Things have been busy as of late, and I’m starting to feel a bit dry. So, I’m going spend some extra time singing to my well and diving into that river….doing some deep-sea diving into the heart of God and into His Word. In order to do that, sometimes you have to let things go…..so if I don’t post for the next couple of days, you’ll know what I’m doing!
See ya’ll in a few days. I pray you get some refreshing time yourself. Dive deep into the river of living water. The water is great!!! 🙂
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” (Matthew 11:28-30 Message)