Dear Family of St John’s
It’s been a while since I’ve written the newsletter article. I was on leave for a couple of weeks and had a chance to get away from PE for a week. I’ve been hearing so much about Prince Albert from so many different people recently, that we decided to venture to the Karoo and explore Prince Albert.
Well, all the stories are true – what a gem!
We visited the most fascinating museum, explored all the antique shops (and almost bought a set of dining room chairs – that needed a LOT of work!). We explored the Art Gallery, strolled down the streets and popped into every little shop. I took advantage of my husband’s unusual patience in this regard and made sure to go into EVERY shop!
We visited Gay’s Dairy and bought lots of cheese; went on a tour of an Olive Farm and learnt all about the different olives and the bottling process… and then bought our weight in olives. We even visited the Skou! With my Free State farm roots, I’ve been to many a Skou (Agricultural Show, if you haven’t been) in my time. But, it was my husband’s first experience and so I had lots of explaining to do.
The highlight of our visit was a 2-hour guided walk through the Wolwekraal Nature Reserve (https://wcro.co.za). Our eyes were opened to plants that we would never have noticed before – shrubs that I thought were dead were in fact very much alive. Neither of us will ever walk through the veld in the same way again.
A key aspect of the conversation on the walk was about how the plants have adapted to the scarcity of water. And, how the harsh, dry conditions mean that many plants don’t flower every year, but possibly only once every five years.
In stark contrast to this experience was our visit to a fig farm, about 25 km outside of Prince Albert. The current farmers are the 6th generation to farm figs there. Now, my first thought when I heard ‘figs’, was – surely this isn’t the right climate for figs! But as we drove along the long gravel road, we’d see occasional pockets of greener vegetation. We didn’t see any flowing rivers or natural dams, but there was evidence of water.
As we turned the corner and arrived at the fig farm, we were overcome by the vibrant, lush, green trees. What a contrast to the landscape we’d just come from. The farm is situated at a point where one of the rivers comes down from the mountain, and water isn’t a problem.
This made me think, naturally, of our source of Living Water – Jesus. He says in John 7:37–38, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me… rivers of living water will flow from within them.”
Standing at Wolwekraal I wondered: how often do our lives look like those dusty shrubs – holding on, surviving, perhaps flowering only every now and then – simply because we are not drawing deeply enough from the Source?
And then, at the fig farm, the image was completely different – abundance, fruit, shade, life. Not because the trees were “better” trees, but because they were planted near water.
Jeremiah paints the same contrast: “Blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD… They will be like a tree planted by water… It does not fear when heat comes… and never fails to bear fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:7–8)
Heat still comes. Seasons are still harsh. But, our source of Living Water never runs dry. The difference is the root – what or whom we are tapped into.
So perhaps the question for us this week is:
Are we planted near the Living Water, or are we trying to survive the drought in our own strength?
Do our lives reflect the “green abundance” of people who drink daily from Christ, or the scarcity of those trying to carry life on their own?
And perhaps, just like the shrubs at Wolwekraal, some of us might feel that we look “dry” on the outside – and yet God is quietly sustaining us in hidden, faithful ways we don’t even notice. There is beauty in these wonderful plants that work so hard to survive. Grace sometimes looks like survival.
Wherever you find yourself – lush like the figs or parched like so much of the Karoo – the invitation from Jesus is the same:
Come. Drink. Live.
Would you pray with me?
Lord Jesus,
Fountain of Living Water,
teach us to root our lives in You.
Where we feel dry, refresh us;
where we are weary, sustain us;
where we have wandered, draw us back.
Make our lives green with grace,
fruitful in love,
and steady through every season –
for Your glory and the life of the world.
Amen.
With love, your friend and rector,
Claire