Which Quenches Thirst?

Which quenches thirst? The pot or the water within?

There was once a huge pot full of cool water! The pot had a tap attached to it. It was placed on a table at a construction site. The weather was hot, humid and the workers were so fatigued. When work was done the workers came to the pot in the sweltering heat, turned the tap and drank the water. Then each worker, as his thirst was quenched patted the pot with glee and walked away satisfied. When the water ran low in the pot the foreman will fill it up again. This happened day after day.

As the days went by, the pot began to swell with pride and a sense of accomplishment. It looked around at the thirst quenched happy workers and thought to itself, how great it was. It said to itself, "Wow! What a great pot I am! Day after day, I am quenching the thirst of these poor workers. What would they do without me? I am indispensable!" At this thought it swelled more with pride.

One day, as the workers came to drink water from the pot, one of them saw a crack on it and noticed water seeping swiftly through the crack. He alerted the foreman. The foreman immediately removed the pot. He brought out another pot from the shelter and emptied the water from this pot into the new pot.
The workers continued to drink water from the new pot and patted it with glee as they had done before.

From a distance where it was dumped, the old proud pot watched all this. Only then did it realize that it was the water which quenched the thirst of the workers. Pride made it swell and caused it to crack. Now it lay forlorn in the dumpster, stripped of all its pride. But alas, it was too late!

How many of us are like the pot. When we  help someone, we think that we are the ones helping him or her. When we pray for a sick person and that person gets healed we swell with pride, as if healing came from us. We fail to realise that it is God Who gives us the means to help someone; God is the One Who heals them as we pray.

Let us not be proud because God can use anyone to help or heal others. When we remain humble God will be able to use us. When we swell with pride we develop ugly cracks and become unusable.

A word of caution to the youth of today.

Many think that they can study, earn a degree, get a job etc with their own intellect and energy. Many think that they can build their bodies doing various exercises with their own strength and power. The world attests to this and encourages the young and old saying,
"Come on, you can do it! The power is in your mind! You have the power and the strength to do it. Think positively and you will achieve! Put your mind to it and you will succeed!"

But alas, they don't realize that the world has beguiled them. They have been conned into thinking that they will succeed when they rely on their own strength. So much energy is wasted because they can't do anything in their own strength, without God.

People who despise God and/or who don't believe in God, or those who have no time for God, try on their own and may seem to succeed. But when they meet tragedy or some trials in life they will be lost for they won't know who to turn to or what to do. Many atheists and agnostics in times of extreme trials take their own lives. For many who do not rely on God, their lives turn out to be chaotic in many areas. Outside they may seem to be happy but inside they will be wrecks. But there is reprieve for them when they turn to God, acknowledge Him, repent and seek forgiveness.

Let us look at the following verse from
Genesis 2:7 (NIV)
Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

The very breath in us is not ours. It is God's. He breathed into us and He has the power to remove it when He pleases. It is by His strength and power that we live and move and breathe. Blessed is the man who acknowledges the Lord and gives Him thanks, for it is he, who will succeed in life.

Therefore let us always be humble before our Creator God and thank Him at all times. Let His praise be always on our lips.

Mary Augustine
14/02/2018