Sometimes when I travel by canoe on Missouri Ozark streams, I come to long, slow pools of water. Few canoeists like slow stretches of a river. It's too much like a lake, which river rats regard as boring. You lose the mainstream, you have to paddle through water that feels dead, and sometimes you have to fight wind. You long for the gradient of the river to take a significant dip, so the water will shoot through rapids again. Big, slow pools on river trips can be discouraging, especially if they come near the end of a long, tiring trip.
I can get pretty sour and negative when slogging through a lake-like stretch of dead water on a river. If I was smarter, though, I'd focus less on the slow water and slow-going, and more on what lies ahead. Because a long, wide, deep pool in a river usually means that the water is going to empty into a fast, choppy shoot ahead. In other words, the river is about to do its best stuff.
Some days are like that for me, or I let them become that way. Today was one of those days. For a variety of reasons, I allowed my spirit and outlook to drag somewhat. I came to one of those moments in which I wondered if commitment to Jesus Christ and to the mission of the Body of Christ is really having impact at all. Then, out of nowhere, came a serendipitous reminder of God's presence, power, and grace. That happens to me a lot. When I think all around me has gone gray and aimless, the Lord's about to do some of his best stuff...just as a long, deep, dead pool signals that a river is about to do its best stuff.
I need to make that connection more often, and to be sure, on gray days, to look around the horizon in expectancy. If you're in a long, deep pool right now, I pray you experience a God who is just preparing to ride with you through an exciting shoot of rapids.
I'll see you around the next bend in the river. Who knows what it will bring.
Raking Leaves
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Fall is here. The sun is moving towards the edge of the frame where, in
just a few weeks it will hit the bumper rail and start back towards the
other side...
2 years ago
2 comments:
I often go through times that I have come to call "Divine Discontent". Times when I feel restless, discontent, and there is no known reason for it. These are times when I have to remember that faith is not a feeling, it's obedience. These times used to disturb me greatly, I thought I was falling away from my faith... what I found, over time, was just the opposite. This is when God is working in me, stirring in me, leading me to a new awareness of Him. Often times I'm guided to do something I didn't think I was capable of doing, or perhaps didn't think I wanted to do (God doesn't call the equipped, he equips the called). These are times when I truly take a step of faith, open my arms wide and say, "OK God, I'll go where You want me". And I'm always grateful in the end.
"Be still and know that I am God"
I have been going through one of these times recently, I don't know where I'm going... but something is changing. I know soon I'll have that same experience you had yesterday, and for a time, the Divine Discontent will pass... until next time!
I like the river analogy. Thank you!
I especially like Odaat's comment, "These are times when I have to remember that faith in not a feeling, it's obedience." Way too often we wait until we "feel good" about some direction God has given. In the final analysis, how I "feel" is immaterial. What matters is how lives are changed and how a world is transformed in and through Christ, and how I respond to God's invitation to contribute to that.
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