Spiritually Stunted

My friend was searching for a package in her friend’s home. She opened an obscure cupboard and reported there was a white plastic bag inside, tied at the top.

On opening the bag, she discovered a long-forgotten amaryllis. It had been removed from its box and the bulb placed on top of the unopened plastic bag of compost. 

Without nourishment from the compost, without water, and without light, this bulb had sprouted, grown and produced three amazingly beautiful flowers.

But the stem was like the neck of a swan, twisting and curved and rather weak, as the plant sought the light.

It’s now planted in the compost in a pot, supported with two knitting needles and watered with care, set in a place where it is bathed in the light from a window.

Jesus counsels that we should abide in him, be planted in him, be nourished by him. He tells us he is the light of the world, a light which warms and draws life to itself. He declares he is the water of life, that he gives refreshment to all who are thirsty. 

People may look ok from the outside (though perhaps a bit twisted like the stem of the amaryllis). They may seem to be growing fine, but they may be weaker than they look. To develop and bloom with all the strength and vitality Jesus planned for us, we need to be planted, watered, and lit correctly. 

Jesus said he came that we might have life to the full. We’ll never have a full life if we are tied up in a bag in a dark cupboard, so to speak, with no access to light, water and food. We’ll be spiritually stunted.

Wanted - Dead or Alive

Last year I floated in the Dead Sea. It is so buoyant that one can literally float away from shore and find it very difficult to right yourself again. One German lady, rather round, actually had to call for help to regain her footing as she felt herself floating off further than she wanted. 

There is no life in the Dead Sea, just a high concentration of various minerals and especially salt. And it is vast, stretching off to the horizon.

So just now when I read these lines from Ezekiel, I could just see it. This prophet had a picture from God and it concerned a river flowing from God himself, a river of life which flowed down from God and ‘enters the Sea. When it empties into the Sea, the water there becomes fresh.’ 

There have been times in my life where I’ve felt that inside me was a Dead Sea, out of which no life could spring. How encouraging are these words to anyone who recognises that feeling of lifelessness, that the river of life continues to flow from God and empty into the Dead Sea, where it transforms the deadness into a life-giving spring. 

The passage goes on to describe fruit trees flourishing along the banks of the river, trees which bear a continuous crop of nourishing fruit and whose very leaves contain healing properties.

I remember those old posters from the Wild West days. Wanted - Dead or Alive. That's how Jesus feels about each of us. He wants us, whether or not we feel dead or alive inside.

Jesus is the water of life. He nourishes and refreshes us, and that nourishment and refreshment is healing, restorative, even resurrection to those who float in a deadness within.

The river is flowing. It requires no effort from us to make it flow. It flows from God, constantly, and where it empties into the lifeless spots of our lives, it brings healing and life.

I just need to stand in its flow.

Dragging

       

Everybody’s dragging. For those with school connections, it’s nearing the end and no doubt the echoes of ‘sprint!’ aren’t helping. Sometimes you’re just too tired to sprint. Even putting one foot in front of the other seems challenging.

And yet. We are about to open the doors of a local food bank to help provide meals for those in crisis, and we have been blessed with over forty volunteers to man it three times a week, and the food collection is phenomenal. So many people want to help. Despite their own fatigue. There’s just something awful about thinking there may be a family in a kitchen near you whose cupboards are bare.

Most of us like to do things to help others. It makes us feel affirmed and justifies our own existence in a way. 

But we are human beings, not human doings. We don’t need to justify ourselves, because Jesus has done that for us. Sometimes we just need to take time to sit and contemplate. To accept refreshment from our Lord, who gives the water of life that springs up inside of us then and provides restorative refreshment for others. 

If we don’t pause by the well occasionally, we miss that crucial breather. We may muster up the strength to keep going, but our spirits gradually dry out, dessicate, and we find we have nothing to refresh anyone else with, because we are dehydrated ourselves.

Seek the Lord. Call on him. There is peace like a river, and glorious life. And water in abundance so that you will never thirst again, as long as you continue to draw from Jesus.