100 degrees with 90% humidity, air thick and stifling, sun beating down----whew I was hot! I felt like I was wilting from the inside out! It was only 9 am and I seriously was wondering just how hot it was going to get before the day was over. I was already anticipating the worst! But over in the distance, I heard the sound of water splashing and was drawn to a nearby fountain. Sun was glistening on the fresh spray of water shooting high above the pond, and for an instant, I felt like taking a quick dip! I wanted to be splattered by that cool refreshing mist---or better yet, I wanted to be immersed in the pond itself! But I knew that being refreshed on the outside would only be temporary. What I needed was a tall glass of ice cold water to fill me on the inside!
We seek refreshment in many ways; spiritually, physically, and emotionally. I'm as guilty as the next guy for wanting a "quick fix", but I'm beginning to learn that unless we are satisfied from the core, our "quick fix" will only last a "quick while" as well. When we are spiritually, physically, and emotionally "dehydrated", a covering of refreshment is no help at all.
Isn't that what happens when we focus on what God will do for us, rather than on Who He Is in us? To be filled with His Spirit is to be filled with Living Water. There is the story in the Bible of the woman at the well from John 4. Married five times, living with her 6th man, an outcast in her community----this woman was trying to fill her life with love----but from all the wrong places. She met Jesus at the well and this is what He told her: "Everyone who drinks this water (well water) will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him, will never thirst again. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life" John 4:13-14 And from that point on, she was never the same again because she accepted His invitation and ran and told the others to "Come and See!".
"The Well" by Casting Crowns
Like the fountain, when we are filled with His Living Water, we overflow into fountains of joy and long to invite others to His internal and eternal refreshment! As we are continually being refilled, we continue to pour forth. And like the glistening sun on the droplets of water, we can shine in the Son and splash others with love, drawing them to want to come near to Him and know Who He is.
Lord, fill me each and every morning with the freshness of your Spirit. Fill me to overflowing and give me the faithfulness to reach out to refresh others with Your love.