Stale Water?

I’m pretty tired tonight, but I just wanted to write some things down…

Sunday night I went with Lissa to a Campus Ministry meeting. My friend Kate was talking that night and she said quite a few things that I thought were appropriate for some things I’ve been struggling with for awhile now.

The first question that sticks out to me is “why do we choose the less than what we could have?” The context of the question is actually kind of a picture: there is nasty dirty water sitting in a cistern, that is stale and just plain gross, on the other side of the scene was a beautiful waterfall rushing from the side of the mountain, cool and refreshing.

When we chose to do the things that are like that cistern, not good for us and not even remotely beneficial, we are settling for something so much less than what God has for us.

For some, this “settling” may be a job or lifestyle, or it may be something small like, what we choose to do with our time. I can think of many different things that this could be for me. Sometimes I think that some things I choose to do is in fact settling for something so much less than what God would have me doing. Do the things I spend time on actually benefit me? Or do I just do them because it’s more comfortable for me in the short term?

Why do I settle? I think sometimes it is because I don’t think I deserve more… Or it could be that I am just lazy. Or could it be that some of the things that I settle for are the things that I really want, but aren’t actually what I should want? I must say, the more I feel like I grow in God, the more I feel like Paul… the things I should do, I don’t; the things I don’t do, I should. The things I should want, I don’t; but what I know is not good for me – I want.

Oh God, please help my desires to be better placed. Let me not want things that aren’t good for me. Let me choose your living water to drink from, and not the stale water that I usually choose!