Lessons From a Watering Can

Did you know you could learn a lesson from a watering can? I do now.  You see, for a long time we haven't had a watering can. I've just had to do without. I've gotten by alright when it comes to watering house plants, but when it comes to watering tender young plants, you can really mess them up if you dump a cup of water on them. You want the water falling on them to be more like a gentle rain shower, sprinkling them with the life-giving elixir of water, not like a tsunami wave of death that bends them over under the pressure and disperses the soil from around their roots. So anyway, for my plantlets I had been making due with a Styrofoam cup which I had poked a bunch of holes in the bottom with a needle, then I would pour water in the top of the cup and let it rain on top of the seedlings (do I get points for resourcefulness? :P ). This is when I first started noticing this little lesson, which also carries over into the watering can. You see, if you just put a little water in the cup, or tilt the can just a little, the water comes out of the holes, runs along the sprinkler surface, and collects other droplets coming out of the holes till they become big heavy droplets and fall with a great splash into the soil. Well at least it's not a tsunami, but it still makes a mess and is pretty hard on some of those wussy little plants. But if you put enough water against the sprinkler to put the water under pressure so that it shoots out of the little holes, it sprinkles the water like it's supposed to!
So here's the point I'm making (see, this isn't really a lesson in watering your seedlings): in order for the watering can (or makeshift watering can/cup) to work, you can't just give it a little bit of water--you gotta give it all you've got! A lot of things in life are like that. You can't just half-heartedly do things and expect to get good results. What does the Bible say? It says "whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your MIGHT" (Ecclesiastes 9:10). That means you get in there and apply a little elbow grease! It's all or nothing. You have to decide what you're going to do with your life, then get in there and do it. If you're going to serve God you have to be prepared to leave everything behind and give it your all. You can't just serve Him part time or half-heartedly or you WILL fail and become discouraged. When you seek Him with your WHOLE heart, you will find Him.
~L. E. Neighbour