Growing up, one of the morning rituals for my mom was to go outside and water her flowers. She had some amazing flower beds and taught me that every home needs some flowers growing around it, even if it is just a few.
Now that I have my own place, I have planted a few flowers (nothing like my mama's) and enjoy the pop of color and life they bring. We have a large, green watering pot, but many times I simply use an empty Folger's coffee container to water the flowers. The container sits in the same spot, under the spout for Sue, our remaining dog, and I water the flowers and fill it up again for her.
It is an old, ordinary, plastic container, and it is certainly nothing at which to look. On its own, it is worth diddly-squat. But that does not matter, because it holds the elixir of life: water. What matters is not the carrier, but what is carried. What matters is not the vessel, but what is brought. And so it is with us: it is what's poured out that matters.
Ugo Bassi, a preacher and writer of the 1800s penned these words:
Measure thy life by loss instead of gain;
Not by the wine drunk but by the wine poured forth;
For love's strength standeth in love's sacrifice
And what is this water of life to be poured forth? It is the love of Christ, love that we cannot earn or buy, only freely accept and offer to others by sacrificing our lives. We don't have to thirst, and we don't have to be empty (even if there are days we feel we are). The Water of Life comes from a well that will never run dry. He promised.
"But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life." John 4:14 (NLT)
Keep the Faith,
Audrey Ann
Photo Credits: Google Images/www.freephotosandart.com
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