It's been crazy hot around here lately. I found myself thinking on the importance of drinking water for a second and quickly drew a parallel to life, that I'd like to share with you.
While at work I have one of those red/white twisty straw type water bottles always on my desk. (Either you know exactly what I'm talking about... or you have no clue.)
Sometimes I fill it up and it lasts me all day. Sometimes I fill it up multiple times a day. Sometimes I fill it up and it sits there...full. Who knows why, but I forget to drink it. It might be hidden behind my laptop, or I get busy and forget it's there. Sometimes I drink it all and think I've had plenty. Then it sits for days, empty. The longer it sits there empty, the less frequently I think, "Oh, I should drink water." Funny thing is, the water cooler is only about 10 feet away from my desk. Totally within reach, right? It's not like it's difficult to walk over an fill-er-up. In fact, it's easy, it's simple, it's good for me in the long run to be drinking water.
So, as I gaze out the huge windows across the front office, and look at the beautifully sunny day outside, I started thinking. I better stay hydrated! I'm going to the river later, and what if I DIE of dehydration? Dramatic, I know, but non-the-less the thought entered my mind.
At that thought I went and filled up my bottle!
I sat back down at my desk and my Bible sat on the edge. And my over-active imagination went to work, imagining my life as a water bottle. Although in my mind my Bible looked less like a water cooler and more like a deep fountain of gloriously delish nature water.
I'm sure you're tracking with me by now. There is, once again, a wonderful word picture here.
Imagination, you never fail me!
WATER:
How often do parents say to their kids on summer days, "Drink some water before you go outside." Children whine, "why?" and parents say, "It's good for you." (well, some say, "because I said so.")
When I take high schoolers to camp during the summer, leaders always fill their students cups with water before the students even have a chance to choose a seat. Tricky tricky? No, we just want them to have water before something else to drink, because we know they're in the sun all day. Not only that, leaders fill their glass too as the example.
Doctors and health coaches preach it all the time. Stay hydrated! It is essential for your body to function to it's fullest potential. We don't ignore them because we know their right. We do, indeed, drink water after we've been reminded by an article we read, a trainer at the gym, or... your mom. And if you're like me, regular reminders are more than welcome, because somehow we forget the importance of this essential liquid.
Sometimes when someone is visiting my house they ask if they can have some water. I sometimes always joke, "Nope, I ran out yesterday." Do they ever question it? No, they laugh and go fill their glass. Everyone knows that there is running water at our disposal whenever we want it. (in our culture anyways.)
So the parallel continues!
How often do we convince ourselves we don't NEED to spend time in the Bible before we head out into the world for the day, where the enemy clearly is plotting against us? Would you spend the entire day out in the sun without water? It's good for you. It's good for your soul. We fill up before we go, we fill up while we're there with potential harmful heat all around us.
How often do we encourage others to spend time in the Bible in the middle of all that is going on in life? Do we offer to walk along side them as we both dive into the Word? Some, if not all of us, need an example. Look to someone as your example, and be one to someone else.
How often do we go to church and hear truth from the pulpit only to head home without remembering what we heard? Aren't we beat after having a go at life all week? Didn't we attend church knowing we'd want to hear what was said? Why would we, parched from a day in the heat, go to a well and choose not to drink deeply from it to replenish our body? Would we stare into it and walk away thinking how lovely the well looked today, or how nicely the bucket was moving up and down, but forgetting to drink?
How often do we believe the lies that we aren't learning anything from the Bible? There is always something to learn. The Bible never runs dry. It is a constant source of encouragement, correction, and instruction. It doesn't run out.
So close so far.
So now that I've written this word picture out, I find myself asking: Why does my water bottle sit empty sometimes? The water cooler is so close to me. I guess sometimes I forget the water cooler is there. Sometimes I forget the bottle is there. Sometimes I'm just lazy or busy.
Too frequently in our lives, we find ourselves feeling lost in life. We feel overwhelmed, overworked, and stretched to thin. We're feeling dehydrated (figuratively) We forget where our source of hope lays, and where our saving grace is found. I pray often, asking that I would never forget. That I would always remember.
John 4:13-14
Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
John 7:37-38
On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”
2 Timothy 3:16-17
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
