By Krystal Kuehn, MA, LPC, LLP, NCC
Life without love is like a tree without blossom and fruit. ~Kahlil Gibran
If you have ever had a garden or house plant, you know how essential it is that it gets enough water and proper care to keep it healthy. I am sure you have also found that some plants require more attention than others. If they don’t get what they need, they start getting limp and frail and they begin to wither. If they are to survive they need to be nurtured back to health.
In many ways, this is analogous to the human soul. To be at our best, we need to take proper care of our souls. Notice how a little water can rejuvenate a plant that is dehydrating? We need the refreshing of living water to revive us. Living water can come in words of encouragement and optimism that can strengthen us with hope when we feel down. Living water is truth that can fill us with faith when we struggle with doubt and trust. It gives us strength when we are tired and weak. It restores and replenishes our souls.
Our souls need nourishment every day. It comes from what we expose ourselves to and what we plant in the soil of our minds and hearts. Unfortunately, some of the things we feed on are harmful and destructive to our well-being. They are like weeds that begin to choke the life out of us. They drain us of energy and hope. Our souls are left thirsty and longing to be quenched.
There are many things in life that offer to quench our deepest thirst but only leave us to thirst time and again. Those of us who have sought after prestige, fame, and fortune, or turned to sex, drugs, and alcohol know how quickly the fullness and satisfaction they bring evaporates. What we may not know, however, is that there is a fountain of life that promises to quench our every thirst and fill us to overflowing. Its waters revive and bring healing. The depth of its love is without measure. Its peace fills us beyond all comprehension. And its joy is poured out in abundance.
This fresh, bubbling, eternal spring of living water is available to each one of us. The God who loves us and wants to meet our every need and heal all of our brokenness offers His living water to all who will come to Him and believe. And the only longing we will ever have is to know Him more intimately and worship Him for all He is and does in our lives.
Love is the immortal flow of energy that nourishes, extends and preserves. Its eternal goal is life ~Smiley Blanton
The greatest single cause of a poor self-image is the absence of unconditional love. ~Zig Ziglar
