Don’t forget to water the orchids when the wife is away

Perhaps you remember the story about the fellow who went to the flower shop and asked for orchids.

“I’m sorry, but we have sold out of orchids,” the lady behind the counter said, “but we have our roses on sale if you’d like some of them.”

“No thank you,” the man said. “It was orchids my wife asked me to water while she was away.”

As backyard gardeners, I expect we all have first-hand experiences that point to the importance of water. We know that nothing can live without water, not plants and not animals. We see in the news that widespread drought in some parts of our world is creating unspeakable suffering for fellow human beings. These people know what it means to be truly thirsty.

I’ve never known that kind of thirst. As close as I have come to real thirst has been working in hayfields in the heat of summer back in the days when square bales were the norm. But I always knew water wasn’t very far away.

I’ve been thirsty after putting in several miles jogging on hot summer days. But I always knew water wasn’t very far away.

For us, getting water is as simple as turning on a faucet. That’s not the case in many places in the world. In parts of rural Africa, people routinely walk four or five miles to get water. Those folks know what it means to be truly thirsty, so thirsty, in fact, that water is all they can think of.

The Bible tells us of another kind of thirst – spiritual thirst that causes us to want Jesus so badly that He’s all we can think of. 

I’m glad when spiritual thirst comes into our lives that we can know Jesus is only a prayer away.

“If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water” (John 7:37-38).

When I was a kid roaming around the ridges of the Appalachian Mountains, my brothers and I knew the location of pretty much every spring. A couple of those absolutely gushed with cool, refreshing water. We’d lean down there, and drink until our thirst was quenched.

When we’re spiritually thirsty and we come to Jesus, we’ll find a never-ending supply of thirst-quenching grace, and we have his invitation to drink of it.

That flower shop had sold out of orchids, but you can rest assured Christ never runs short of grace.

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Reach Roger Alford at 502-514-6857 or rogeralford1@gmail.com.