Droughts

Finally got a tiny amount of rain last here in drought-stricken Texas last night. Grasses have been shriveling up, trying to keep only their cores alive until the return of proper rain. Leaves and branches are falling off of trees that are putting all of their energy into extending roots to grasp at any bit of moisture they can find.

When it comes to our spiritual droughts of love, we're not much different from plants in our behavior. Our inner beauty starts to wither as we desperately try to make some sort of connection that will satisfy our need for love. Like a tree, many of these roots fail to find nourishment. Some find a temporary source, then fade. Only one root can reach the true source of the living water that provides the fullness to our souls.

I've heard it said many times that you have to give love to get love, but I think that's only a half-truth. I love the way that master songwriter David Wilcox put it once: "We cannot trade empty for empty, we must go to the waterfall for there's a break in the cup that holds love inside us all." The droughts come and go, but that one source, the waterfall, the fountain, the living water that cleanses and nourishes always remains available. 

“Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”


Once our true thirst is slaked, then we can share with others the water of life, of love, of our soul's true desire. Our roots and branches can be full, and the storms cannot break or topple us.

The droughts will still come, but the thirst will not.


I love the way the band Caedmon's Call once put it: "The past can be like sidewalk chalk if you will dance and pray for rain. Let go and forget what you know."