A MEDITATION: Like rain to a parched land …

It’s trying to be a rainy day here in San Diego, but it’s not accomplishing much.

The forecast was a 70 percent chance of rain, and it’s been cloudy all day. But as far as rain goes in this drought-stricken part of America, the most we’ve gotten was the mustering of some short-term sprinkles.

Just enough to wet the ground, create a few puddles, and make it look like a rainstorm has rolled through.

California is still suffering from a harsh drought, so any rain these days is appreciated. Watching it sprinkle for a while, I was stirred with a question: which water is valued more, the water we have in good times, or the rains that come in a drought?

It certainly seems like the appreciation for rain soars during times of drought, but our need for water — for our bodies and for the land — remains essential all of the time. If necessary, we could survive for many days without food, but the same isn’t true about water.

Water isn’t more important during times of drought, it’s just that times of drought bring a fresh reminder of the importance of water!

Even when water is available in abundance, most of us don’t drink enough water to meet the needs of our bodies. We could actually enhance our health if we would only drink more water — not coffee, not soda, not beer — but water, each day.

It’s interesting how we better see the value of water when drought serves us a reminder of its essential place in our lives. That’s much like what observing Communion does for us. Our greatest essential as human beings isn’t for water, but for Jesus Christ. He is our single greatest need of every day we live.

But we so easily forget that.

Observing Communion is like the gift of rain to parched land; as we remember that Christ shed His blood and gave His body to be broken on our behalf, we remember how essential He is to our lives in every way, every day. Like how we need to be more aware of our need for water and drink more of it on a daily basis, we need to remember the sacrifice of Christ every single day, and let that story of amazing grace guide us into and through our days.

As we remember the sacrificial love of our Savior on a daily basis, He quenches the deepest thirst of our souls and we are satiated with His love.

Scotty