At the time of my last contribution, I noted that we had just come to the end of an unusually hot spell of weather and were now seeing the return of the rain, more like a ‘normal’ English summer.

Alas, it turned out to be only a temporary respite, and the sun and heat soon returned, with the inevitable hosepipe ban and, of course, the warnings to stay indoors, draw the curtains, drink plenty of water, etc. I think sometimes that politicians seem to forget that most people have enough common sense to look after themselves, whatever the weather.

I think the most noticeable effect of the heat was in gardens, with wilting plants and what were once green lawns looking more like deserts, devoid of life. Although, as they say, ‘Every cloud has a silver lining’, at least I hadn’t had to get my lawnmower out since early May.

Over the last few days, though, the rains have come again and, looking out of my window this morning, that ‘desert’ had changed. There were now definite signs of life, with green shoots coming up everywhere.

It occurred to me then that sometimes the ‘heat’ of life can have a similar effect on us. We feel dried up, with no life in us, and end up with an attitude like Marvin, the clinically depressed robot in Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I quote: “Life? Don’t talk to me about life.”

At these times we, like the grass, need refreshment, spiritual refreshment. Jesus said, “But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again, (it) will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:14. He is talking about the Holy Spirit, the ‘Living Water’ he refers to in John 4:10.

Many look to the things of the world for their ‘spiritual refreshment’, but if we are truly believing in Jesus Christ, then, as Paul tells us, we have ‘Living Water’ already within us, refreshing and renewing us in the driest of times.

1 Corinthians 6:19: ‘Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?’