God’s love should flow full force

When the children were smaller, we lived in a newly developed area with a large, vacant field in front of our house.

Many days an exciting sight unfolded on the corner of our street. On those days, a fire engine and a smaller fire department truck with several firemen would be parked on the corner. They would have the fire hose hooked up to the fire hydrant and the valve opened. While two firemen held the hose, water gushed out of those giant hoses, shooting far out into the field. If there was a little breeze, we could feel a damp mist on our faces from the spray. It was just amazing to watch.

About that same time an advertisement came on TV with one of those 1-800 numbers. The advertisement was for a little watering hose that could be connected to the kitchen sink and then taken all over the house to water house plants. A little valve on the hose would control the flow of water and it was only $9.99.

I ordered it and was so excited when the hose came in the mail.

Gone were the days of hauling water back and forth to my houseplants. I attached my little hose and walked all over the house watering my plants. It was about 25 feet and stretched from room to room, enabling me to go from the living room to the bathrooms and bedrooms. And it was great.

Instead of the water gushing out and sloshing all over the floor as it usually did, the water just dribbled and bubbled out. The hose was not more than a half inch in diameter, but it did the job for my houseplants.

Then one day it dawned on me. The same water source behind the fire hydrant on the corner that spewed out the high-pressured water that shot out over the field hundreds of feet was the same water source that was behind my little kitchen hose that dribbled water. The difference was in the size of the hoses.

I realized a spiritual truth from that.

Some claim they are Christians and profess to love God. They are connected to the source, but because of lack of forgiveness, bitterness and sin, they dampen the spirit. As a result, the love of God only dribbles out of them in little amounts, if at all.

Then there are those people who give all. They acknowledge to God that they have frailties and faults. They give all of themselves — their attitudes, feelings, aspirations, hopes — and as a result, their obedience results in a gushing of God’s love out of their lives. As a result, the world is a better place because they have lived out the gospel day to day.

When Jesus told the people on the side of the mountain, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled,” (Matthew 5:6), that statement might be a commentary on the hoses. The amount of water delivered depended on the size of the hose.

If we as individuals have a hunger and thirst for righteousness, we can be the vessel that will carry the love of God to the world. We just have to be connected to the source and we must be willing to give all so we won’t choke off the flowing of the love of God in our lives.

Judy Brandon is a Clovis resident. Contact her at:

[email protected]