One year ago, I moved into a little house on the Pedernales River.  The wide, full river flowed beneath me, as it wound through the Hill Country.  Today, the river is dry.  The beauty is gone.  The dry riverbed is spotted with giant cracks and occasional piles of tires and assorted other ‘cover’ for the fish.

The severity of the drought has forced our communities to live differently.  Many are having to buy water for their homes.  Last Sunday morning at the mission, we turned on the faucet, and there was no water.  (Thankfully it was just fire ants in the motor, but we live week to week with the fear that the well will run dry.) My community is enforcing drought procedures, which call us to reduce our usage by 30% and not wash clothes on the weekends.

And while I know that drought is just part of the seasons of life, I am not enjoying it.

In many ways, I suppose it mirrors life. We all have ebbs and flows of life that bring periods of fullness as well as drought.  We tend not to think about it much until the river runs dry (or perilously close) and then, with a little panic in our voice, we wonder, “Now what?”

We have resigned ourselves to the reality that the only way out of our drought here is likely a hurricane.  In our own lives, the dry spells are lifted in other ways .

Living Water

Jesus once encountered a woman at Jacob’s well.    In the course of their conversation, he tells her that he can give her living water.    Ah, living, flowing water to refresh and replenish the dried up riverbeds of life.  No more scrounging and finding only enough water for today.  No more living in a constant state of dehydration.  “Yes, I’ll take it!” says the woman at the well.  “I’ll take it too” we echo her refrain.

Droughts remind us that Christ is our living water, who is able to quench our dryness, to refill our parched souls and to refresh our spirits.

The Long View is Pastor Liz’s mid-week observation of our regular stories, and how they may show the Spirit at work.