Dallas Arboretum, Spring 2018 {Water, Water Everywhere}

North Texas is not currently in a season of drought, so Amore and I were able to enjoy the full delights of an arboretum full of water features and the joy they bring to the ears as well as the eyes. We gazed out over White Rock Lake to the skyline and a mansion that made me think of Tara. These photos won't do the beauty justice, I know, but I pray they refresh and encourage your soul today.

Most importantly, may they draw your heart towards Jesus, who alone gives us living water and satisfies our thirsty souls. Everything else is a leaky cistern compared with Him.  He can refresh our spirits even when our bodies are weary and hurting and our hearts are aching. He can revive our hearts to follow Him fully for one more day. Come to Him and drink freely of His grace and life, dear Crumbles.

The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water" (John 4:9-25).

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified (John 7:37-39).

As delightful as all these fountains and streams were, how much more blessed will the river of the water of life in the eternal kingdom of God be:

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.

The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price (Revelation 22:1-3, 17).

May the Good Shepherd lead you beside waters of rest, beloved. May He restore your soul. May He lead you in paths of righteousness for His name's sake (Psalm 23:2-3). Amen.