Stepping Stones: Without Living Water, We Crack

January 5, 2012

Transformational Thought

I am constantly amazed by the sheer number of TV channels available to us…you can find something playing on almost any topic. My youngest daughter loves the cello and plays quite well. Her favorite musician is the great cellist, Yo Yo Ma. My oldest daughter had the privilege of seeing him in concert a couple weeks ago. After the concert, he talked about his cello being a Stradivarius built in 1716! I was flipping channels the other day and stumbled on a program about vintage guitars and some principles intrigued me.

The narrator was explaining that the finest acoustic guitars are made from very thin layers of tone woods…and that the quality of sound is largely determined by their thinness. He went on to say how critical it is to keep a guitar at the wood’s natural moisture level, about 45% relative humidity. If not, the wood cracks and the once beautiful tone takes on a deadened sound. Of course, you can still play it, but it won’t make the beautiful sound it was built to produce.

He took a “broken guitar” and placed it in a room at 45% humidity. Three days later the wood expanded to it’s original size, the cracks closed, and the guitar played and sounded like new. The narrator continued talking about how we are made up primarily of water…how things start to go seriously wrong if we become dehydrated. That got me thinking.

We were created by God and designed in His image…finer than the finest instrument. We’re created by our Lord to make spiritual music…the fruit of our faith, to glorify His name. Just as the guitar needs moisture to keep from cracking…we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit and God’s Grace. We need it in and around us. In the absence Jesus Christ, the true living water and source for all spiritual healing and power in our lives, we crack. Like the cracked guitar, we will still make music…but ouch, the sound has deadness to it and so will our activities. Our heart will soon ache with the hardening that dead sound will produce.

Today, think about how well-hydrated your spirit and soul are. Does your sound replicate that of a fine instrument…or is it muted with an unwanted deadness? Soak in the living waters that flow from Jesus Christ…truly believe in and practice His teachings and watch those cracks close up before your eyes. If you choose to practice life according to your own rules, you will hear the deadened sounds of your life in your heart. Your decision, so choose well.

Prayer
Dear Father God, I come to You, dry, parched, dehydrated and cracked. I know You created me to make spiritual music, but all that is coming from me lately are dead notes. Fill me, Father, with “streams of living water” so that my cracks heal and close, and that I make the beautiful music You intended for me. Thank You, Lord, for Your Son Jesus Christ, who gave us life and gave it so freely. I pray this in the name of the One who filled all my cracks in my heart; and all God’s children say - AMEN!

The Truth
Jesus answered her, "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."
John 4:10

On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."
John 7:37

A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
Psalm 63:1