Getting into the River
Camels drop dead suddenly!
Camels keep going until they suddenly collapse and die! They can walk, carrying enormous loads and without water for many weeks – until they simply fall to the ground – finished! Camels are very resilient – until they are not!
This set me thinking that I too sometimes feel like I must ‘keep on keeping on’ – whether with everyday life, family, work, church or with situations that are painful, hurtful, stressful, traumatic and difficult to be dealing with. I press on, rally, keep going. There have been times when I have woken up and believed that the day isn’t doable – but I knew that, if I could get myself into the shower, the day would start, and I’d keep on keeping on.
The danger in this keep on keeping on – or resilience – is that we start to look to things that don’t actually build the resilience that is available to us from our God. They may be unhelpful or helpful in the short term but not lasting. Things such as going away for a weekend, having a massage, reading a book (for hours!), travel – yes you are getting an insight into my self-sustaining preferences! And as a result, we can come to a ‘halt’ – out of resources.
But in God we have a way to recovery and access to the resilience that is founded in Him. John Eldredge points out that one way that scripture describes the life of God – is as a powerful, never-ending, gushing river. And this River of Life is something I have been pondering for a while.
Ezekial, in one of his visions, sees the River of Life flowing out of the temple and says in Ch47:9 - “Where the river flows, everything will live”. John in Rev 22:1-2 was given a revelation of the restored earth and he saw the River of Life flowing through the city of God. Psalm 36:9 tells us God is ‘the fountain of Life.’ John 7:37 it says, “Whoever believes in me – rivers of water will flow from within them.” These words are not just talking about something that will happen someday ‘later’ – they are for now, for today, for this moment.
We really can live and find life in all its fullness. We really can find resilience, not in our own strength but in the enduring strength of God.
What does this mean as we wake up tomorrow morning? How can knowing that we can find resilience for our lives in the abundance of God make a difference? We hear and learn so much that may not have a real impact on our day to day lives – we could call it head knowledge that hasn’t made it to our hearts. I’ve been trying something different – using my God given imagination to help me tap into this resilience. Each morning on waking – before I do anything else – I imagine stepping into this River – it’s an oppressively hot day – has to be for me to enter a river! – and I allow myself to feel the rush of the fresh, soothing, gasp- inducing water – refreshing me and taking away my stress and tiredness. I imagine the exhilaration, these wonderful sensations and relate them to God filling me with His Holy Spirit – it washing over me, in me and around me - blessing me, lifting me and giving me that energy, that resilience to go on. I don’t try to think what that will look like practically – I just start the day in a better place knowing God’s River of Life has just engulfed me and will flow out of me.
You may wake each morning looking forward to the day ahead – but should you find yourself daunted by all you need to achieved, by the sheer volume of all that your day will entail or bracing yourself for pain, hurt and difficulty, then, before you move – imagine stepping into God’s River of Life, embrace the water – maybe you dive into the River, maybe you take small steps, maybe the River is a gentle stream for you - but picture yourself deep in the River – and let God fill you with His life and therefore His resilience for the day ahead.