Thinking about waterfalls, because I just posted a Virtual Reality photograph of Horsetail Falls, led me to think about water and spirituality, which brought to mind an ancient story. It’s a story about finding one’s deepest thirsts quenched.

Several thousand years ago, a young spiritual teacher rested at an ancient well in the heat of the day. As a woman came up to draw water, he spoke to her about spiritual needs in her life. She was seeking refreshment from the well water, but he pointed her to something more profound — her need for a deeper and longer-lasting kind of refreshment. Of course she wanted it. Who wouldn’t? But was such a thing possible?

Yes it was, and he could offer it because he was no ordinary spiritual teacher. This man was the incarnation of deity, and had come to free people from longing thirsts such as hers. All her life, she had tried to quench it through multiple relationships, but was never successful. He offered what no one else could — true refreshment for her spirit, not her stomach. He was on his way to accomplish something that would change the world, and would provide that refreshment to anyone who wanted it.

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.”

Whatever thirst you have can be fully quenched only by what he did, and drinking of it will give you your heart’s deepest desires. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

What do you thirst for? Where do you seek life’s gratifications? The world will fill us with desires that accomplish the world’s purposes, but He will fill us with desires that accomplish what we were created for. Nothing else truly satisfies.

This came from visiting a waterfall in the Columbia River Gorge. A small but nice one is Horsetail Falls, near the eastern connection of the old road with I-84. My wife and I were visiting it a while ago, and I walked around reflecting on the beauty of the place, contemplating the many ways it could be used to speak of God. While standing there, resting in the beauty and peace of the spot, I wondered to him if it would really work to make such connections, if waterfalls could really be a good vehicle for speaking about spiritual truths. In one of those moments of unexpected clarity, the thought came to mind: “Why do you think I made them?”

Of course.

So this is something I will be pondering, refining my photography, to know him better, and to make him known.

Scripture references: John 4:13-14 and Psalm 37:4.