What's Stopping the Flow?

This week my granddaughter, Bella, and I went out to check the small flowerbed in our backyard.  In the scorching July heat, the plants were beginning to shrivel and were badly in need of water.

I picked up the hose and just barely turned the water on so I could run it for a minute or two to release the water that the sun had been heating all day.  Then I pulled it across the lawn to the flowerbed.  I told Bella to turn the valve so I could have more water flow to give the flowers a good soaking.  Even though it appeared she was turning it in the right direction, I was only getting a dribble of water through the hose.  She tried turning it the opposite way.  Still, not enough water.

Finally, I walked back toward the side of the house to see if I could help her.  There I found an extreme kink in the hose.  It was folded back on itself, cutting off the water flow.  Once I corrected its position, the water flowed and lovely cool showers of water were able to soak my plants.

The Holy Spirit spoke a little word in my heart in that experience.  I'm going through a very stressful time right now, with a lot of uncertainty.  Sometimes my focus turns away from God and I begin to look back at myself, creating a spiritual "kink" that blocks the flow of the Spirit in my life.  While that blockage is there, it creates two problems.  One is that I can't be a conduit of refreshing to others in my life.  All of the things I'm called to do in this life get trapped in the place where I get stuck in my own situation.  The other issue is that I can't let the Holy Spirit work in me in the way that He wants.  I'm not open to the changes He has planned for me if I'm looking at my own problems instead of His solutions.

In the natural, I had to take the initiative to examine the situation, find the problem, and make the correction.  The spiritual requires the same.  I had to examine my life, realize what was stopping the flow in my life, and make the correction of turning my mind and heart toward what God was trying to do in the middle of the circumstances instead of just worrying and complaining about how difficult everything felt.

Where is the kink in your life? What is stopping the flow?  Find the problem and make a position correction in your spirit so the flow can begin again.  It's the key to all God wants to accomplish in and through your life.

Loving the Unloveable

A few weeks ago, I posted the picture above on Facebook with the following caption:

"Look, Mamaw! We have a new friend. His name is Caterpillar."

Bella has a "thing" for insects right now.  It's probably because, with no playmates her age in the neighborhood, and with only four boring adults around, the bugs are little, cute, and she has power over them. My little one seems to have no squeamishness or fear of any of them, alive or dead, though she seems to display the appropriate amount of caution around bees and other stinging things that fly. However, there was a startled reaction when a click beetle did his little "flip and snap" in her hand.

I don't have the same affinity for these creatures, though I can appreciate the beauty and grace of a butterfly or the look of a cute ladybug.  As far as I am concerned, I keep my distance from anything with more than four legs.  I am quite picky about my bug associations.

Bella doesn't care if the bugs are ugly or scary-looking. They don't have to measure up to any particular standard for her to enjoy their company. They don't even have to be living! They are all her friends, and they fascinate her.

She is the same way with people. She'll walk up to random people and ask, "What your name is? My name is Bella, and this is my mamaw and my papaw and my mommy and my daddy." Though we are trying to teach her to be careful around people she doesn't know, at this point in her life, she doesn't know a stranger. People are delighted with her attention and usually share a name with her. Bella wants to love everything and everybody - regardless.

God is the same way with people. He loves all of us - regardless. We don't have to look right, act right, or think right to deserve His love, though He'll make the right changes in us when we turn our lives over to Him. Not only that, but He expects us to love each other without conditions. We can't limit ourselves to the beautiful and graceful. He really did mean for us to love even those who curse His name, who are hateful to others, who celebrate sin, who oppose all that is good.

I've had a little difficulty with that expectation lately. So much is happening in our world, and I see hate and violence and division everywhere I look - at least in the media. There are leaders whose rhetoric seems to come from the very pit of hell, and I have to remind myself that God loves them too. In my own little world, though I love my family members very much, there are moments when it's not all beauty and grace around here either. Sometimes we bite or sting or startle each other in word or deed. Loving someone is not a feeling, it's a choice. I must pray for those who are spouting evil and violence. I must remember that I can be ugly too, and that I must give grace to those who are not gracious to me.

Jesus said it this way in Matthew 5:44.

" But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you."

It's a tall order, but it's a directive from Jesus Himself and not just a friendly suggestion. When you and I pray, we can't restrict our petitions for blessings to just ourselves and those who please us at the moment.  We must be praying for and loving all - even the unloveable.