Water

Every 20 seconds a child somewhere dies from a water-related illness. 3.575 MILLION people die each YEAR from a water related disease. If you have the ability to take a shower in your home, run a dishwasher, or wash your hands under a running faucet then you are part of only 10% of people on the planet who can.

Water. Something we take for granted here in the United States. Oddly enough this blog is not about the kind of water that your thinking about now.

I am house sitting a blessed family and have been privileged enough to use their pool all week. I have been using this time of relaxation to worship and read and visit with friends and sometimes just think. Today I was silently reflecting on what's to come of my life through this new transitional season. I am moving to a new city in an unknown location, I am contemplating many big changes for my life including church and small group and way of living in general. Where this is an exciting time, it is not without it's stress and it is not without some sadness.

So this week has been a huge blessing to me in some quiet time of seeking from the Lord what might be next on our agenda. While reflecting today it hit me, man it is stinking HOT out here! I got up from my chair and heat soaked towel and scampered over to immerse myself in the cool and shaded waters of the pool. Immediately I was relieved. I was refreshed. And I felt renewed. As quickly as all of that happened, I could feel the Lord tugging on my Spirit reminding me that this was only temporary. As soon as I get out, step on the hot pavement, throw myself back on the hot towel draped across an even hotter lawn chair I would instantly be hot again. And at some point, would have to repeat the cycle over again.

When I thought about this never-ending scenario (never ending as long as I kept hopping out of then back into the pool) it occurred to me that if I would just stay in the pool, I would never need refreshing. I would stay cool and replenished forever!  Then I thought of the Lord, and how he promises us that we shall never be thirsty again when we drink of the water that He has to give. And in that moment, even the idea of setting up shop in a pool during a 100 degree drought was not enough. Eventually the water would sit in the sun so long that it would get too warm to swim in. And we all know that once in the pool for a while it loses its' affect of refreshing us because we get used to what it has to offer.

What if everyday with the Lord was like that first dive into a cool pool after an hour of laying out in the hot sun? Do you remember what that feels like? I do, because it just happened to me 15 minutes ago. But until now it's been so long since I have been swimming or even around a lake or pool that it's probably accurate to say that I wouldn't have remembered what it was like. It's.....GLORIOUS!

I want to feel that way in the Lord's presence every single day. So why don't we? What gets in the way, or what distractions are hindering you from feeling refreshed from the Lord's life spring every single moment you are in His presence? For a lot of us it is that we never truly experience His presence because we are no longer seeking His face. Some of us it is that lukewarm distraction of being half of the world, half for the Lord sort of deal--I don't think we will ever be able to fully feel the affects of being submerged in the Holy Waters living that sort of lifestyle. A lot of times even we are simply too busy to even care or to realize we need refreshing.

Today while laying out and enjoying the sunshine I did not want to dip in the pool. I didn't want to be wet and cold when I got back in the house and I felt like I was about to end my laying out session anyway, so I struggled with dipping in one last time or not. I held off, for so long that it made the dip even better. Because I was extra hot and extra sweaty and needed some extra refreshment. Once in, I never wanted to get out. I remembered how AMAZING it was to not feel the way I felt while outside of the pool, and how wonderful it was to feel the way I felt while IN the pool.

Are you letting Jesus refresh your soul? He offers us the type of water that the world will never run out of. The type of water that we will never die of related disease from. He offers us the type of dip in the pool that doesn't just last a few minutes, but a refreshing and replenishing of our souls that can last forever. Now the only question left is.....will you jump in? :)

In Him,
Meg