Dry and Thirsty

Posted by Elaine Marie Cooper

It was the driest summer in years and my garden was ready to wilt. Another day in the upper 90’s was in the forecast so I headed to the perennial garden to bring my plants some much needed water.

I’m sure if they could have spoken, the dry green leaves would have shouted out their relief. Instead, my lavender plants made their joy known in another way: they started to share their aroma.

I had not even noticed the lack of scent from the purple flowers in the crowded garden. I had merely directed the hose filled with life-giving water at their roots and flooded them with what they needed the most. Once the water flowed through the stems, the fragrance just naturally emanated from the tiny flowers and the green needle-like leaves of my favorite plants. It was a sweet, relaxing scent that penetrated the entire yard with its presence. And it was lovely.

How often have I neglected the life-giving water of God’s Word, only to find the aroma of the Holy Spirit has ceased? Dried out and neglecting His instruction and His presence, I get swallowed up in the garden of life, smelling like all the other plants. Quenching my thirst with Him—in prayer, in reading His Word—His fragrance once again emanates through me. It is the sweet scent that naturally flows through a Spirit-filled life.

“Jesus answered, …‘whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’” (John 4:13a 14 NIV)

“But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.” (2 Corinthians 2:14-15 NIV)

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