Unseen power

I learned a great lesson yesterday in our front yard.  We have been in our house for almost 18 months.  When the house house was built in 2007, they installed an underground irrigation system.  The previous owners never used it and subsequently had the backflow-preventer taken out and the water supply capped off..  We decided that we wanted to start using the irrigation for our lawn, vegetable garden, and roses.  Last week we had a plumber re-install the backflow-preventer and turn the system back on.

I am no expert in plumbing, gardening, lawn-care, or irrigation systems.  I asked the plumber how I could best locate the sprinkler heads.  You see, I have been mowing the lawn for 2 summers now and have never seen a sprinkler head.  I assumed that many of them have been buried after 7 years of sitting dormant in the ground.  The plumber was kind to me in my ignorance.  He said, “if you want to locate the sprinklers, just turn the system on.”  Could it really be that simple?  I mean, I had looked and yet never found a single sprinkler head…not even evidence of a sprinkler head.  Yesterday afternoon, in the 97 degree heat, I went to the control panel and turned the system on.  I could hear the water start to rush through the pipes right under my feet.  All of the sudden, out of nowhere, sprinkler head popped up out of the ground.  Cold, fresh water was spraying everywhere throughout the yard!  Every sprinkler head popped up, with about 2-3 inches of dirt on their tops.

Not only was water covering the lawn, each sprinkler was doing as it had been designed years ago.  Some rotated 360 degrees, some 180 degrees, and some 90 degrees.  No water got on the side of the house or on the back deck.  Some sprinkler heads shot streams of water 25 feet!  Others had what appeared to be a small mist.  Still others came up at an angle to water the flower beds!  It was amazing to stand back and watch this all occur.  In total, there are about 25 sprinkler heads in the yard.  Each positioned correctly and designed to operate as needed in its’ location.

Here’s the lesson.  The pipes had been laid underground.  The 25 sprinkler heads were in their proper locations, ready to do exactly what they need to do.  The entire system lacked one thing.  WATER.  Not just water for water’s sake.  In order to work properly, the system needed water, with high pressure.  You see, once the plumber hooked the system up and I turned it on, the water flowed to each sprinkler head.  There was enough power to make all 25 pop up out of the ground and do their thing!  I had never before seen ANY of these sprinklers.  In Ephesians 1:18-21 Paul prays that our eyes would be open to know the immeasurable greatness of God’s power to those who believe…power that raised Jesus from the dead.  If you are a follower of Christ, you have everything in place to see His power flow through you.  His power can even cause things to spring up within you that you never knew were there!!  That is the beauty of His grace to you and me.  Coming to Christ for salvation is like having the plumber connect you to the water source.  Now, everything is in place and ready to be used.  As followers of Christ, we then allow His power flow through us.  Once we do that, we are useful for Him exactly as He desires to use us.  If we are all doing as He planned, we cover all the ground He wants to cover for His glory.  We can be useful by His own design.