Playing in the Mud

One afternoon a few years ago I was trying to teach my elementary school basketball team the to be more aggressive when they went to rebound. "Jump up, yank the ball out of the air, and roar like a lion!" Corny, I know, but it worked! The players would grab the ball and let out a piercing roar. Such is the power of an image to change the way we see ourselves.

Jesus knew that. He was a master at using word pictures to describe life and our relationships with God and others. One of my favorites is found in John 7:37-38. Jesus said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."

Jesus speaks of a spiritually thirsty person finally coming to Christ. The result is that they will no longer be thirsty. In fact, they will be filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit. So much so that the Spirit will flow like water out of their lives, presumably watering others.

I was thinking of this image a few weeks ago when the snows were melting and I found myself outside in the driveway doing what I have done every spring for as long as I can remember: playing in the puddles. Actually, I consider it "work" rather than "play." I enjoy taking a stick and running it through the mud so that the water can drain out of the puddles faster. This year, I struck the mother lode when I discovered that Mike's plow and dumped a bunch of dirt near the small culvert on our driveway and an entire corner of our neighbor's yard was flooded. I worked with my stick, pulling away dirt, stones and leaves until finally the water could run down the ditch through the culvert and down into the lake. What fun! Um, I mean work!

I as I was hard at work, I starting wondering what things in life keep the streams of living water from flowing from within. What is the mud that causes puddles to form where there should be streams? While I am sure that there are more, two things came to my mind as I was thinking about this.

First, selfishness can cause me to want to keep my water all to myself. When I see the water as "mine" I will want to keep the blessings to myself. I will, in effect, build a dam to keep the water in rather than allowing it to flow through me.

Second, sinfulness will cause the Lord to close the spigot of water flowing into my life. It is one of the ways that he seeks to get my attention. If his blessing no longer seems to be on what I am doing, then something is wrong. Seriously wrong, and I need to find out what it is that is blocking the flow of the Spirit in my life.

I was excited to find that blocked culvert, but not just because it was fun see the water flowing again. I also knew that if that water sat there long enough, it would become a tremendous breeding ground for mosquitoes. In the same way, if the water stops flowing through us, we will become stagnant and actually become a nuisance to others rather than a blessing.

So, how is the water in your life? Is it flowing or do you have some work to do?

Pastor Karl