Ask any child, “Where does water come from?” and the usual answer will be, “From the faucet, stupid!” Well, they may not add the injective, but if you pressed them on this—“You mean that’s all there is to it? Water just comes from the faucet?”—they might respond with conviction, “Of course not! You have to turn the knob first! Here, let me show you.”

You might get a similar response if you asked where electricity comes from or where television programs or YouTube videos come from. “From the wall socket, from the television, or from my laptop!” Oh, and of course you’ve got to turn them on first.

Reminds me of years ago when our family had a Jersey cow we milked twice a day, giving us far more milk then our family of five could consume! We took a gallon of this fresh raw milk as a gift to friends, but the children refused to drink it, because they decried, “We don’t drink milk from cows—our milk comes from Krogers!”

A more informed child, however, might respond, “Actually water comes from the ground or a river or a well; electricity come from a power plant; and television and internet programs are produced in studios all around the world; and, of course, the milk from Kroger does come from cows.”

Sounds better, and with these answers they may pass the quiz. But are these more informed answers sufficient? Water comes from the ground and then out of our faucet. Is that all there is to it?Electricity is generated at a plant and then comes out a wall socket. Is that all there is to it? A television program is produced in a studio and then is seen or heard on your television, radio, or computer monitor. Is that all there is to it? A gallon of milk comes from a cow and then from a cooler at Krogers. Is that all there is to it?

No, between the river and your faucet, the power plant and wall socket, between the cow and Krogers is an extremely complicated system of pumps, pipes, filters, joints, electronics, wires, tanker trucks, and hundreds of diligent people providing these services. And, of course, in our society it all costs money. Similar necessary middle stages, normally invisible in our daily lives, can by described for nearly everything in our lives.

It’s important for our children to understand the interconnectedness of the often invisible sides of these services we too often take for granted. But there is an even more important spiritual analogy here, of course.

A spiritually aware child­–the kind that makes us parents preen our proud feathers–might respond, “Actually all these things come to us from God, and we owe Him gratitude and homage for every single thing we have, from large to small.”

True, very true, and this one should get a gold star on their quiz! As good Saint James wrote:

Every good endowment and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. (James 1:17)

But yet, even so, we must never forget the necessary often invisible middle stages. 

Reminds me of a story I once heard (and quote in my book Learning Contentment). A tourist was driving through Scotland, admiring the rolling farmlands, until one particularly beautiful and abundant garden stopped him in his tracks. He got out of his car to admire the well-kept and bountiful rows of vegetables. As he approached, the Scottish gardener suddenly popped up into view from behind an enormous berry bush. The tourist exclaimed, “My, God has blessed you with a beautiful garden!” To that, the Scottish gardener replied, “Ach! You shoulda seen it when God had it to his lonesome!”

Between God’s gift of everything and our reception of them are the myriad of middle people, the secondary means, that God has used to bless our lives. Yes, Jesus warned that “apart from me you can do nothing” (Jn 15:5), but in that same passage of Scripture he tells us that though He is the life producing vine, we are the necessary branches apart from which the vine cannot produce fruit. 

This analogy, of course, reminds us how important each one of us is as a secondary means of communicating the truth of God’s love and salvation in his son Jesus Christ to the others in our lives. Sure it comes from Jesus to them, but you are that indispensable middle voice without which they may never hear.

This also reminds us of how important the Church is, for She is the preeminent middle source established by Christ through which He intends His people to receive His blessings and grace. Too many people think, “All I need is Jesus; I don’t need the Church!” That’s like saying, “The water from my faucet comes from the river. I don’t need any of those things in between!”