It has been a while since I have stopped my body long enough from the busyness of life to allow my mind to really think on things and to reflect on those things.
Summer has come and has started to drift into the very beginning stages of autumn. There has been a crispness in the air in the mornings that is like a whisper of things to come. It is not only a pleasant feeling, it is also a refreshment for the mind, the body, and the soul that is weary from the dry and hot summer.
This one has been an extraordinarily dry summer with soil that is cracked and desert-like. The weeds can not even survive the dryness. Our yard had not been mowed in almost 2 months. I hung clothes out on the clothes line for the first time this weekend (because of a reconfigured dog pen vs. backyard which is another story), and they were dry in under 30 minutes. Dry might be an understatement.
I saw an aspen tree last week that is already starting to change to light yellow-- one or two crisp mornings, and it is ready. I think all of creation here in the Valley is ready for autumn. There is a longing for rain and for the change of seasons.
There is a thirstiness evident in nature by the cracked soil, the brown, crunchy grass, the lack of flowers and weeds, the sparseness of the trees. When people are thirsty it is harder to tell. Our tongues get a little thick, but we will often live with just enough that no one would know how thirsty we really are. We act like we are quenched, but all the while we are trying to slake the inner thirst of our souls with things that will never satisfy. Our souls are parched and brown and looking dead.
One thing that is true here in our drought-stricken valley is that when rain comes, the struggling vegetation responds and responds quickly. We had a rain for almost an hour last week and within two days we had patches of green grass where the brown and crunchy grass had been.
Our hearts are similar. Just a few drops of the word of God and we notice a softening and a hint of life and beauty. The living water of Christ is what we should thirst for. His fountain will provide what we need and will fill our cups until they overflow. Even in the midst of a physical drought in our surrounding world, our hearts can be healthy and flourishing from the well of life that we have because of Christ.
During this busy and dry summer, I have tried to remember that verse from Psalms about my soul thirsting for the Lord, and I have been asking Him to be my all-- to satisfy me totally. May I not look at my surroundings or other people or things for satisfaction but only to Him. He is all I need. He is the Living Water, and I will never thirst again.
Psalm 63:1 "O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water."
