I love having flowers around my house in the spring and summer. They make me smile. Growing up we didn’t have many flowers in our yard. There was a rose bush beside the carport and morning glories that climbed up the porch each spring. Neither of them needed much attention so I didn’t learn to care for flowers or any kind of plant for that matter.

Early in my adult life I tried my hand at planting flower seeds and hoped for the best. Occasionally I splurged and bought a pot or two of flowers for the front steps. The seeds never grew and the potted flowers usually died pretty quickly. Turns out they needed some care, some attention from me. In the heat of the summer months they needed more water than an occasional rain shower provided. I needed to take some responsibility in helping them flourish and become the beautiful flowers God created them to be.

We are like those flowers. There is much potential for us to flourish and become the beautiful people God created us to be. But we can’t ignore the care we need and just hope for the best. We too need water to flourish. Speaking to the prophet Jeremiah, God said He is the “spring of living water” (Jeremiah 2:13, 7:13). In the Gospel of John, chapter 4, Jesus offered to give the woman at the well, “a well of water springing up to eternal life” and promised she would never thirst [spiritually] again. Later in John 7, Jesus said, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.”

It is in our relationship with Jesus Christ and through the washing of the water of His Word that we can flourish and be all that God created us to be. But we must be intentional about seeking that water, drawing it out, allowing it to flow into our lives through reading and hearing the Word every day, not just occasionally. Otherwise, we may shrivel up and die [spiritually] as the flowers in my little pots did.

As I water the flowers around my house on this hot July day, my prayer for us is that our desire for the water of His Word – Jesus – would increase so that His living water flows into our lives and we grow and flourish as God intended, and that His rivers of living water would flow out from us into the lives of those around us so that they too will flourish and never thirst [spiritually] again.

Grace and peace,

Pastor Pam

NOTE: Pastor Pam Sutherland’s charges include Fort Gibson United Methodist Church in Castlewood, VA and St. Paul United Methodist Church in St. Paul, VA.