Quiet Waters

This past weekend my two sisters, Connie and Judy, my niece, Alyson and my dear Mom spent a girls weekend together with me at our cabin. At one point my sisters and I went for a walk down by the creek that runs through the property. I remembered how it rushed through the woods in the early spring when the winter snows had melted and the rains have fallen. Now though after a long and dry summer and fall, the creek has all but gone dry. It quietly flows across the rocks with hardly a sound. The leaves fall into the water and drift through the bends and curves of the stream unable to stop their journey except if snagged by a limb or washed to dry ground.

I was thinking about this a lot as I looked at this picture. Like the spring, when my faith was new, I was like the rushing stream. Always loudly announcing my presence and rushing to the next bend in the flow. But as the years went by, like the dryness of summer, my faith grew dry and my voice quiet. What is the cause of that? When my faith was new it was when I was plugged into the Source. There was no contention for who was the center of my life. My beliefs and my behaviors were in response to living connected to the source of life. Unfortunately, I started to be less and less relient on God and more and more on myself or others to feed the stream of my faith. Over time the stream of faith became quieter and drier.

One thing that I noticed though in this stream is that the water is still continuously flowing. There is no break in it. The stream is still living and providing nourishment to those along the way that draw from it. That gave me hope. Just as the stream will be replenished when the next rain comes or the winter snow melts I too can be replenished by the refreshing rain that comes from the Father.

Where does that rain come from? He sends them through the blessings of my life. The Word of God - His love letter to me. I found a renewed passion for the Word. As each day begins I find myself drawn to linger longer and longer in His Word. The stream grows stronger. My family and friends. They encourage me and enable me to see the light through the darkness. The counsel of wise men and women - who share with me God's Word and guide me in the path that my life may take. The stream begins to flow and overwhelm its banks. It spills over into the lives and hearts of those that I come in contact with. I rejoice in the journey. Each bend in the path of the water confronts me with yet another way to trust and obey my Father. I pray that I will become more and more conformed to the image of the giver of Life.

God has been the stream in my desert. He has seen me through the driest, saddest part of my life. The flowers in the desert bloom as the life giving water awakens life within me.