Ducks love water. As soon as they are out of the incubator they find the water dish and begin to drink and splash enthusiastically.
As they grow life consists of a frantic dash between the feed and water dishes. This means a constant challenge for us to provide water and to clear up the mess they make.
To keep them supplied, we arranged a dish with two inverted colddrink bottles that slowly release the four litres of water they contain.
Unfortunately ducks have very small heads with little room for brains. They took instant fright at the new dish with its hovering bottles and crouched well away from it in the furthest corner. I tried to show them that they could find the water they wanted there by holding a duckling and dipping its beak briefly in the water, but it made things worse by struggling and squawking as if it was drowning.
People need spiritual water. One feast day Jesus shouted out: “If a man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” John 7:37 and 38.
The living water Jesus offers satisfies a yearning we all have for forgiveness, inner peace and a secure future which stretches to eternity.
Christmas celebrates Jesus’ birth, when God reached down with a plan for the salvation of mankind. The celebration should not stop with his birth but stretch to remember his life, words and miracles and especially his sacrificial death on behalf of fallen mankind, with his subsequent rising from death, destroying death’s power over believers.
What a tragedy that many people reject the glorious Saviour who offers the living water. Jesus promised that those who seek will find. Eternal life is a gracious gift we should not reject.
A bit of local news is that the ducklings overcame their reluctance and fear and have begun to enjoy the new water dish. Have you overcome what may be stopping you from experiencing the presence of God?
