Living Water

This gem is one of my favorite places in Ohio.  It’s a hidden scenic treasure of waterfalls, quiet streams, lush greenery, and an easy enough hike for all of us to enjoy together.  When we walk through the woods the water is flowing to my left.  Let me get a teeny cheesy because that is who I am.  I think of it representing my journey in life.  Sometimes there is stillness and other times it’s wild and running rapidly.  I never noticed it before but amid the raging water is this tree.

It is SO OUT OF PLACE!  It isn’t surrounded by soil or other trees.  It’s perched up against a big honky rock.  You can’t tell by the picture but this river is FLOW-ing.  How is this tree surviving without visible soil, pushed up against a rock, not being moved by the fast-flowing stream?! 

As soon as I saw this tree Psalm 1 came to mind.  

Blessed is the one

    who does not walk in step with the wicked

or stand in the way that sinners take

    or sit in the company of mockers,

but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,

    and who meditates on his law day and night.

That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,

    which yields its fruit in season

and whose leaf does not wither—

    whatever they do prospers.

This tree is just like the one in verse three, planted by streams of water and whose leaf does not wither.  The elements don’t affect this tree.  My idea of what it needs to grow doesn’t affect this tree.  The tree is surviving because it has the one thing it needs, living water! 

You see where I am going with this right?!  We know that Jesus is the living water (John 4:10).   A person who anchors himself [meditates on the law day and night] on Jesus is just like this tree.  That person is not affected by the circumstances that surround them.  They aren’t moved by what others think about them. The person planted by the stream of living water will prosper in whatever they do.  So sister let us plant ourselves near the stream of living water, or better yet right in the center!!  Let us daily be mindful of who God is and what he is doing in every part of our journey.  

Giving you hugs today!