Vol. 16 No. 11 | March 18, 2013
We were driving home from a nice meal and evening with some dear friends. We had driven about ten minutes when I began to realize I was thirsty. I wished I had a drink of water. We drove a little further and I thought about how much I wanted a drink of water. We drove a little further and I began to feel almost parched and had thoughts of stopping for something to drink. Then, I realized I had almost half of a bottle of water sitting right beside me in the drink holder. I had forgotten that I had not finished it on the way up. With two or three gulps the water was gone and my thirst was quenched.
I felt so foolish. I longed for water. I wished for water. I wanted a drink. I was really thirsty. The water I wanted was right there beside me. All I had to do was to reach for it, drink it, and get refreshed.
My failure to remember that I had the solution to my thirst right beside me is not so different from how we ignore and forget about the life giving water our Lord makes available to us.
To the Samaritan woman of John 4 Jesus said, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” Eventually she asked for it and received it.
To the curious followers seeking a savior in John 7 Jesus offered, “Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”
To the young disciples in Matthew 5 Jesus promised, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”
We have a tendency to spend a significant amount of 
time wishing we had what God has promised we can have. We expend an awful lot of energy longing for and dreaming about what God has already given us. We waste too many opportunities to be blessed and refreshed and revived and restored by ignoring the Spirit of the living God who is always with us and already in us.
Why? Why do we miss the life giving living water of the Spirit of God? Why do we not reach out to the Comforter who has come to dwell within us?
We forget. We get caught up in living life our way. We become comfortable with the status quo. We settle for good enough.
We ignore. We know there is a better way. We understand that the source of refreshment is ours for the taking, but we prefer to pretend that we are lacking.
We choose. We choose to go it alone. We choose to do without. We choose to not use what God has made available.
Are you thirsty? There is water. Are you hungry? There is food. Are you weary? There is rest. Reach for it. Open the bottle. Drink. Be refreshed.
Tom
© Copyright 2013 Tom Norvell. All rights reserved.