The Living Water: A lesson from the Loveable Koala

THE  LOVABLE  KOALA

      “Ah, he’s so cute!”  Everyone loves the koala!  He is quite famous for his rides on Quantas Airlines, and his picture is even on the national crest of Australia.  He may look like a soft, cuddly teddy bear, but he really is not a bear at all.  He is a marsupial! (There’s a good  practice word for your phonics!)  Marsupial means that his mother has a nice soft pouch in which to carry her baby.  The Lord made him just right for his home in Australia. 

The aborigines people named him.  In their language, “koala” means “no water” or “to not drink.”  He  gets moisture from the leaves he eats.  He looks adorable with his soft fur, shaggy ears, and shiny black nose.  He is a very quiet little guy and no threat to anyone, for he eats only leaves from certain eucalyptus trees.   He spends most of his time up in the trees and seldom comes down.  He has special toes to easily climb and hang on to the trees, but his short, stocky legs make him slow and awkward on the ground.

At birth, he is only the size of a lima bean, but he climbs right up into his mother’s pouch and  finds delightful private dining!  He never goes to a baby-sitter or day-care, because he stays in mother’s pouch for about six months.  After that he rides on her back everywhere she goes for another year!  He and his mother are so close that even after he grows up and moves to another tree, he sometimes visits and spends the night in her pouch!

      The koala may not need to drink from a lake or stream, but he gets water from the eucalyptus leaves.  We humans also must have water to live.  More important than physical water is our need for the Water of Life.  Jesus said, “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).  Have you received the Living Water, the Lord Jesus Christ?  He said, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink” (John 7:37).

-Taken from Kidz Kritterz by "Aunt Carolyn"