A Remedy for Dry Stems

Are your spirits drooping? Is your joy and courage lagging? Look at the bouquet of flowers on my kitchen counter. They were all fresh and bright when we first set them there. But the next day one bloom had wilted. The cause was apparent—its stem had not been able to reach the receding water. So we set its dry stem in fresh water and expected to see its vigor and beauty renewed by morning. But the poor thing had another lesson to teach us. Dry stems can’t receive water, no matter how fresh and abundant it may be. They must be cut first.

How about you and I? Do we think that immersion in good things will restore us when we are dry? Perhaps you have attempted such a remedy and failed to see results. It is time to go deeper. The dry conditions have closed your receiving lines, dear soul, and it is necessary to open them once more. The cutting edge of godly sorrow and humility must touch your heart before the life-giving flow of Divine grace can enter. The renewing power is just waiting to flow up with refreshing strength, if you will but open the channels to the Living Water.