Outlets

The busyness of life. Whether you are gainfully employed, a student going to school, a homemaker, or retired, life gets very busy. You add on top of that church involvement, a girlfriend or boyfriend, a marriage, motherhood, fatherhood, extracurricular activities. You just move forward living life and before you know it, your days and hours are consumed. Depending on what are your priorities, there are times things may become overwhelming. Isn't that why weekends, holidays and vacations exist? To kind of give us a break from the daily routines that now systematically just happen. At times, we may need to prioritize our priorities. I always have to take inventory of my time constraints and reprioritize. One thing that is consistent is that I wake up to God and devotion and before ending my day, I read scripture, do studies and then pray myself to sleep. I hate saying it that way, but sometimes it is true. By the end of the day, sometimes I'm so spent that I fall asleep while I'm praying to Jesus. When that happens and I realized it happens I feel like the disciples who fell asleep when Jesus asked them to stay awake. Sometimes, I just tell him I'm so sorry Lord --  and tell him, you know Lord, in Jesus's Name Amen. Don't be judgy!!

So this past Sunday as I listened to the Pastor speak, he gave an example of how he had visited a beautiful area where there was this oasis that included a lovely down pouring waterfall that settled in a pool of water that was crystal clear where you could see the bottom. He explained that the water pouring into the pool of water that also had an outlet and that is why the water stayed clear. He explained if it didn't, the water then would become a smelly stinky, cloudy marsh. If the inlet failed along with the lack of outlet, the pond would dry out and become a dry cracked dead area in the middle of a desert. So the message he was giving is how we need to be poured into as well as having an outlet -- or giving out of what is being poured into us. I just loved this visual metaphor.

I pour into myself by having a relationship with Jesus and do what I need to in order to keep myself from becoming stagnant in that area. When I haven't done this, it's easy to backslide and unfortunately, I become the person who is about to be spit out because I become lukewarm. Along with my busyness, I also have several outlets. Most recently, because of the suggestion of a pastor who I admire immensely telling his congregation to start where you are with sharing the gospel with others. He explained that you could start with your testimony, thus the creation of this blog began. I thought to myself, I can write fairly well with maintaining somewhat accurate grammar. So here I am, using my outlet and possibly pouring into others who are reading them by sharing my life and testimony with them. I absolutely love music -- especially worship music -- and playing my guitar, piano, zen drum, dulcimer, harp, harmonica (I'm not proficient in most) -- my go to instruments are the guitar and piano, because I've also been a vocalist pretty much all my life. Along with that outlet, I also am an artist -- I use all mediums. My favorite is acrylic on canvas and papier mache. I'm also a person who loves to decorate my house -- especially during the holidays. I love gardening. I'm a collector as well. I think I've explained before what I collect, so we can move on from this topic. You get the point. I pour into myself and I have outlets. I love serving in both my church life and personal life. God has given me a generous hand both of myself and financially when needed.

Above, you will see a picture of Lafufus and Labubus. No, those are not mine. This collection of stuffed delights belong to my 42 year old son. He is a top executive for a scientific organization. He is so educated, he makes my head spin. He has two Master Degrees -- one in Chemistry and one in Business Administration. He also has a Doctorate in his field of science. My amazing son is a genius. He read at two years old. He maintained high GPA's all his life. Here he is living life to the fullest and is absolutely very busy in his work and personal life. So he has found an outlet. He has developed an obsession with purchasing Lafufus and Labubus and entertains his Mom by doing videos to show me the opening of them. I have to tell you that I've become an enabler of his new outlet. His joy is so contagious and he makes me laugh hysterically. He has other outlets in his life to give it balance. Today, he actually shared the above picture with me and thus gave me a topic for today's blog.

This brings me to the point that actually was part of the sermon the Pastor shared this past Sunday. How we pour into ourselves as Christians by using Prayer, Worship, Community and Service, Bible Reading and Study to help us not to become stagnant Christians. But in order to not become stagnant, you also need to share with others what is being poured into you. What I love about the sharing process is usually those who you are pouring into may also pour back into you and the waters keep flowing. Of course, we are able to accomplish this only through Jesus and the guidance of Holy Spirit. We are vessels on the clear "living waters".

Proverbs 11:25 says, “The generous soul will be made rich, and he who waters will also be watered himself.” 

John 7:38 -- "He who believes in Me as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."