The past week has been sweltering. Temperatures have soared over the 100 mark. Those of us without the benefit of AC have been shedding clothes, standing in the sprinkler, or sitting immoveable in the shade. Not much gets done when it is this hot. The most I can do is get ice from the freezer, drop it into my water glass, and raise it to my lips. Oh, I do a fair job of saying, “Whew, it’s hot!” over and over. But that is about it.
Amazingly, my garden is flourishing. The tomatoes, beans, squashes, and cucumbers are reaching for more of that sun’s heat. All they need is water, water, water. Even the potted plants on the patio are doing well. What do they need? Water, sometimes twice in one day, and a bit of plant food. As long as these plants have water, they seem to thrive in the heat.
So what does this have to do with the spiritual life? Well, I started thinking about heat. You know . . . life heats up. Maybe we feel like we are in a pressure cooker or some other metaphor. We sweat drops of stress or tension. We get red in the face. Whatever. The question comes: “How can we thrive in the heat of life?” Hmmm . . . a fountain . . . of life. Living water. Streams of living water. How does one stay watered in the heat?
On one of the hot days, my daughter sat on the patio with her feet resting in a bucket of cool water. She claimed that as long as her feet were cool, she felt cooler. I like that. If my feet are grounded in the springs of living water, I will thrive in the heat of life. Where is this water? Jesus told the Samaritan woman that he was the source of that water. That’s the water I want.
This is the way of the garden life: well-watered from a living source.
Photo: Nasturtiums
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