Something to Drink

When you accept vulnerability and lean into that thirsty tired feeling, you embrace the sacred moment of God's invitation.

In God's invitation, He's asking you to do two things: surrender and focus.

I talked a little about the surrender yesterday - diving into that thirsty moment and owning it.  Admitting where you're at.  Finding the God who is meeting you there.  Taking the time to set your heart right.  Setting aside the to-do list for a few minutes to focus on what matters.  Rediscovering (or perhaps finding for the first time) that peace that is Him.

But His second offer is focus.  Or better yet, discipline.

This is why thirsty tired doesn't bother me so much.  Not only does it give me a chance to reconnect with God in a powerful way (though it is the tenderest of moments), but it gives me the opportunity to evaluate my schedule and figure out where God's driving me.

As exhausted as I have been, I have had the time to pick up a few of the new things I'm undertaking - putting together the May newsletter for the women's ministry, getting some design details into my new business card, setting the shovel aside to have a long woman-to-woman talk with the neighbor, converting my book to digital format (it hit the Kindle store this morning!), looking at the upcoming worship arts meeting itinerary, thinking about Prayse, reading the Psalms, getting into the music....these things that He really has put in me, these things that absolutely feed my heart...even through the exhaustion, I have more than enough for them.

Sometimes, sure, it's tough to get started.  But that's not Truth.  Once I get a few moments to really indulge myself in what He's doing...there seems to be a well of energy and all the time in the world and nothing else matters and I forget how exhausted I am.

Because God uses what He's created us to do to feed us.  That's why it's crucial that we remember what is in us.

I find this a lot in ministers I have talked to over the years in different capacities.  Men and women who say they love what they do but that sometimes, they wish they had a Sunday off just to feast on the worship service instead of agonize over it.  I understand what they mean, and there is one of two discouragements breeding here: either they aren't in a position that allows them to do what God created in them to do....or they've turned it so much into a profession that they forget to let their createdness (their art) drive them.  (See post about Who Does Number Two Work For?)

These thirsty tired moments are an invitation to a sacred encounter with God, but they are also an invitation to reassess what you're doing with your life and to take a fresh approach to building your life around what feeds you.  God has created in us this beautiful photosynthesis.  Photosynthesis is the process by which plants use light to make their own food.  It is true in us the same: God has created us to use His Light in the way that it hits us to feed ourselves, to fuel our passions, to grow in faith.  Thirsty tired gives us the opportunity to see that we may not have our leaves turned the right way to draw in this life-giving power.

It's the crazy little stuff that just likes to get in the way.

So yes, I am thirsty tired lately.  But I am also indescribably encouraged and filled with energy for the things that feed me.  It doesn't mean the other stuff isn't getting done.  It has to be done.  But some of it is taking a back seat for a few days.

I'm thirsty....and I'm feasting.  And it's absolutely beautiful the way God does that if we'll just be honest enough to admit our emptiness, our drained, wiped-out hearts and bodies...and turn to Him in surrender in a sacred moment.  He's waiting for us here.