Overflow of Grace

With cheeks glowing, they bound through knee-high, life-drained weeds. Hearts racing, bodies laboring, laughter bubbling, they traipse on in search of adventure.

Then it hits. They are thirsty. Parched throats demand an answer. The desire cannot be ignored, and so the agenda changes from a quest for adventure to a hunt for fulfillment. The whining erupts, and water must be found. They rush to the pump, pushing each other out of their way in their desperation.

They drink to their hearts content. Smiles returning. Curiosity resurfacing.

Isaiah 41:18
I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys.
I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs.

We are a thirsty people. Ever searching for what will satisfy, desperate for what will quench our thirst. And so we drink. We drink of the Ever-Present Fountain until our thirst is quenched.

And we keep it to ourselves. While the world craves the smallest drop, we hoard the river of grace, forgiveness, and love.

Matthew 25:43

For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home.

How do we get our children to peel their eyes off themselves and onto a world in need?

It begins with us.

But how do I wrench my eyes off myself and onto a world so desperate for a drink? Why do I demand a waterfall of grace from others and yet find it so difficult to offer it back? Why do I think that my day to day difficulties are anything compared to a world of hunger, heart-ache, and hopelessness?

For months now I’ve been wrestling with God. He simply asks me to offer a drink to a thirsty world--to live outside the promises of this deafening culture. My ears are saturated with its lies. And yet I listen to them again and again. My eyes are blinded by the brilliance of the mirages all around me. I want my family to live outside the promises of our culture, but it is so easy to slink back to my dreams of comfort and convenience.  

But parched throats demand an answer. Their desire cannot be ignored.

Will my quest for adventure change into an overflow of fulfillment?

Will I hoard the river or let my life be an outpouring of grace?

John 7:38

Anyone who believes in Me may come and drink! For the Scriptures desclare, "Rivers of living water will flow from the heart of anyone who believes in Me."

Who will you offer a drink this week?