Let it flow

Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’ (John 4:13-14)

Jesus was tired when he got to the well at Sychar, but the woman he met there was in worse shape.

She lugged water from the well every day, week after week, a daily slog without end. But this barely scratches the depth of her fatigue. She was also on her fifth or sixth husband or boyfriend or whatever they were.

World-weary is a term that comes to mind for her; burnt out is another, and we’ve all felt it.

Whatever you call it, it is not living. Life, eternal life as Jesus calls it, is about connection with the Love from whom all things come, the Love who is source of your soul.

Living is the experience of divine love flowing like a fountain in your own heart, bubbling up, filling every cold and empty place and busting forth in your smile, your grace and in the beauty hidden within, waiting for you to cast aside your fears and let it shine.

That beauty, of course, is the presence of Christ, a living stream of love that never runs dry.

Pr. David L. Miller

Always more

Which of you desires life,
   and covets many days to enjoy good?
Keep your tongue from evil,
   and your lips from speaking deceit. (Psalm 34:12-13)

Scratch a typical human being and you quickly find a burning desire for life, a passion to feel the exhilaration of being fully alive. We hunger for more life and more moments when “it can’t get better than this.”

No matter our age, we want more years to have and hold our beloved. We want to watch the generations unfold and bless those who carry our blood for their journeys into years and adventures we will not see and cannot imagine. We long to be blessed by their smiles one more time … and to celebrate every success that awakens their joy.

Wanting this, how shall we live, except with gratitude for the gift of life and the privilege of loving and being loved?

So live with honest hearts, blessing as we have been blessed, thanking our amazing God, ever strong and ever true, who is the mysterious source of all that is good—our hope when threat is near and our joy when the sun shines warm on our shoulders.

And know, there is always more.

Pr. David L. Miller

 

Unnameable

 Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. (John 6: 35)

Understanding your own soul—let alone someone else’s—is a lifelong project. Even Jesus searched for words to name the Mystery in his soul.

I am the light. I am the gate. I am the good shepherd, the true vine, the resurrection, the way, the truth, the life. None of them says enough, and if you think long about anyone of them your head begins to spin until your mind collapses in an uncomprehending heap.

 At their root is something Moses heard when he took off his shoes and hid his eyes from a burning bush. “I AM,” the divine voice said from the fire. “I am who I am.” Moses pushed, but got no further explanation and there was none he likely would have understood anyway.

Jesus puts a face on this Mystery whom no eye has seen so that seeing him we might know there is nothing to fear, ever. Look at him long enough and you begin to see that the great I AM loves us beyond all reason for reasons we will never understand. This love is soul food, a taste of eternity that makes the heart bold.

The other words—vine, gate, shepherd, etc.—offer a few ideas that feed our illusion that we actually understand him. But ultimately, no name will do.

Pr. David L. Miller