Quenching Thirsty Souls

I remember my mom listening to this song when I was a young child. The lyrics have always stuck with me:

Friends I could count on
I could count on one hand
with a leftover finger or two.

I took them for granted,
let them all slip away;
Now where they are I wish I knew.

They roll by just like water,
and I guess we never learn.
We go through life parched and empty
standing knee deep in a river and dying of thirst.

I didn't understand the message then, but I understand it now. Often we become so absorbed in the unimportant details of life that we forget about what really matters. We concern ourselves with things when we ought to be concerned about people. We spend time worrying about things we cannot control instead of working on the things we can. We focus on the mundane, routine aspects of life instead of noticing what is beautiful and meaningful around us.

"Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst."

 Indeed, we go through life parched and empty, standing knee deep in a river and dying of thirst.

We should spend more time doing things that matter. We should spend more time loving and serving others.

Most importantly, we should drink deeply from the spiritual, life-giving water the Savior offers each of us—

Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. (John 4:14)

This precious water which restores our souls is accessed through sincere prayer, daily study of the scriptures, attendance at church meetings, and observance of God's commandments.

When we put the Lord first, we will discover we've been standing knee-deep in His mercy all along. But unlike the character in the depressing song above, we won't be dying of thirst.