Back porch chimes signaled the quickening breeze as the storm approached.  The plants, arid and dusty from the long drought, seemed to sense the coming refreshment.  Cooler air lifted my spirits as I waited with anticipation for the first drops to fall.  Finally, rain.

I take for granted the abundance of water in my life – until it is threatened.  Until the clouds stop coming and the drops stop falling.  Then, I remember the preciousness of this resource. 

Unlike some places in the world, our lives are slightly insulated from the immediate effects of drought. Our cars keep cranking, and our air conditioners hum. We talk about the lack of rain as we flick off the Weather Channel, and we continue on. For a while.

Driving through the fields of Georgia during a recent dry spell, I watched with dismay as the tractors plowed up clouds of red dust.  The ground, so dry from too little rain for too long, colored the air with its nutrients as the farmers attempted to prepare it for planting.  They were experiencing the difficulty of life without water.

My soul is sometimes like those fields, parched and dry.  Life drains me, and the dust rises and chokes me, obscuring the joy and blotting out the light.

In John 4, we find the story of the woman at the well.  She came to the well dry, beaten up by the world and her choices.  Jesus looked at her with compassion and offered her Living Water.  At first, she thought He was offering her a way to get water without having to come out in public to draw water at the well, but before she went home that day, she knew the truth.  Jesus offered her Water that cleanses the soul and refreshes the spirit.  He offered her Himself and the soul provision of life with Him, and her life was never the same.

Refreshment in this life comes through Christ alone.  He is the Living Water, and without Him we live in the drought of our own resources, which prove inadequate in the demands of daily living.  I don’t have to turn on the Weather Channel to check on availability, because the Good News is that He offers Himself freely and calls us to come and drink.

Parched by the heat of the journey,
broken and cracked by the heated demands of the day,
my soul thirsts for refreshment -
clear waters washing over my weary feet,
drops of spring rain scattering dust as they fall.
I am dry, Lord.
Send down Your rain -
the cleansing water of Your word 
to wash my dusty soul,
the invigorating showers of blessing
to fill the empty cisterns of my heart.
I am dry, Lord.
Send down Your rain - 
grow my roots deep,
cause my leaves to flourish
bearing fruit in abundance.
Let me dance in the raindrops of Your love -
Lord, send down Your rain.

John 4: Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. …14 whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

Isaiah 55:  Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. … ⁹ For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

¹⁰ For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:

¹¹ So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

¹² For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.