It was summer and every teacher’s chance to finally breathe. The deck of my home boasted a myriad of newly potted flowers. My fenced yard was my haven of green space within the city limits.
Amidst the harmony of bird song and dancing leaves, I read my devotions. My husband came outside and noticed the beautiful variegated purple flower blooming in a pot beside me—its leaves healthy and turning to the sun.
But yesterday, it hadn’t been. The leaves were closed, and the petals sagged in the throes of death. It looked wilted, forlorn, and helpless.
Fortunately, my husband had noticed its sad condition. He smiled and said, “It just needed water.”
I thought about the difference water had made in the life of my flower. From hopeless to hopeful, dejected to beautiful, and dying to new life. I realized that giving a cup of cold water in Christ’s name works similarly. I needed to reach out and bathe those in my circle of influence with the refreshing water of God’s love, truth, grace, and mercy. I needed to pour His kindness into others in practical ways. Perhaps the Lord would use my cup of water to point a despondent, hopeless person toward the giver of living water. And by doing so, revive a soul thirsting for compassion and truth.
Think of some ways to give a cup of cold water in Jesus’ name.
(Photo courtesy of pixabay and 6653167.)
Loretta Tolly accepted Jesus as her Savior as a young child and decided to take that decision seriously when she was a camper at a Christian summer camp. She has taught children to love God, read, and write in schools in Buffalo, Africa, Cleveland, and Toledo. She lives in Toledo with her husband, son, dog, rabbit, and axolotl.