Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water. Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” John 4:10, 13-14
Even though I’ve been blessed to spend a lot of time in the woods during my life, I am grateful that the Good Lord often lets me see new things whilst out there.
Obviously, the first thing I noticed about this old stump was the middle with standing water reflecting the sky. The hollow center probably filled up from melting snow and spring rains. I also noted that this stump is a pretty good distance from the nearest running stream.
Then I realized that someone had recently used the stump as a bit of a dinner table. In this particular area, it was probably a red squirrel that chowed down on a fir cone. The squirrels cut cones off of mature trees during a short period in the fall. Then they store them in a cache, or midden. So this particular cone probable came from the animals’ work several months earlier when the temperatures started to drop in the forests.
The seeds from the cones can be pretty dry, and some water to help wash them down would no doubt be quite welcome. In the past I’ve seen squirrels sipping a drink from pockets of water smaller than what is in this stump. Traveling long distances to a water source can be quite hazardous for small animals like squirrels. A major risk is that it can lead to a lot of exposure to predators, so a nearby watering hole is a valuable commodity in more ways than one.
It is of great comfort to me to know that the Creator of the universe has granted me living water for my soul so that no matter what happens, I never have to thirst for Him again. I am so grateful.
Have a great day.