What is the state of the water in your soul?
Sometimes you feel dry. You’ve given until you have nothing left. If anyone asks or expects anything more from you, you may just explode.
Sometimes you feel stagnant. Your heart and life feel sluggish. Nothing good is happening. You’re grasping at various things to feel better but nothing works.
And sometimes you feel awesome. THIS is what you were made for. Your productivity, joy, and sense of being Fully Alive seem to overflow.
Notice how even the words we use to describe the state of our soul have so much to do with water. And those words hint at a profound truth about the way God’s universe works, and about how He made you and me.
To be Fully Alive you must take in freely and give out lavishly.
A stream, pool, or lake that rarely receives incoming water will go dry. So too will your soul. Without regular nourishment you will become empty, and in that state you are very little good to anyone.
A pool or lake that only receives but never gives out becomes stinky, stagnant, and dead. Nothing can live there. If you are not giving out regularly your life too will begin to stink.
A truly alive stream or river is one that accepts water in abundance and sends it on its way quickly and extravagantly. If you want to be Fully Alive, do the same.
That principle works in every area of life. It applies to health, ideas, friendship, encouragement, love, finances, material things, creativity, joy, and ministry.
To be Flowing, you must Receive First and then Give Generously.
Here’s how to do that.
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Connect with good sources
Learning to feed yourself is critical. God makes physical food available, but we’re responsible for knowing when we’re hungry, finding, choosing, and preparing the food, and choosing to take it into our being. It’s the same with mental/emotional/spiritual food. It’s important to proactively and continuously find soul food and take it into your heart.
What are you doing to stay well-nourished? What fills you up? What books are you reading? What inspirational media are you consuming? What experiences are you taking part in? What uplifting people are you connecting with who will stretch you? What places are you spending time in (nature, lovely architecture, etc.)? What are you doing daily, weekly, yearly to replenish the flow of good things into your soul and life?
Above all, God is the ultimate Source of all good things. Make sure you are taking in His healing, transforming Presence daily, weekly, and in periodic “extra” experiences.
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Give out Generously
If your hand is full it’s difficult for you to receive more. A stagnant pond becomes stinky. Whatever is in your hand, heart, and life needs to be passed on. See yourself as a conduit, a river, rather than a reservoir.
Regardless of how little you may feel you have, there’s someone who needs it. Start where you are. Think beyond yourself. The happiest people are the most generous people! It’s important for your physical, mental, and spiritual health. Give a smile. Make a phone call. Pay attention to a child or an older person. Let your time, your love, your heart help fill up someone else.
The more you give the more you will be able to receive. The sentiment is true: “There’s more where that came from.” I’ve discovered that as an author; I put my best “stuff” out there, and more ideas come. Be a good steward in blessing others with your material goods, and God brings more. Be an amazing friend and you will have more friends than you can keep up with. “Give, and it will be given you . . . “ is true in every way far beyond money. (Luke 6:38)
Be That River
Jesus said, “But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:14) “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” (John 7:38)
If you want to be a life-giving river or a beautiful waterfall, connect to the Source of life-giving water and drink daily. Then make sure to open your hands and heart to let that life-giving water flow out from you generously to those who are thirsty. The more quickly you pass it on, the more music the water in your soul and life will make.
You are not the Source. But you can experience the life-giving water flowing through you.
What exhilaration! What beauty! What joy!
Your Turn: What are you doing to stay nourished and filled up? And what are you doing to pass on what you have to others? Leave a comment below.
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- Make your life a life-giving river that takes in continuously and gives out extravagantly. Tweet that.
You can Overcome as a Believer!
There’s a lot more about taking care of your soul and passing it on in my book Overcoming Fear and Anxiety through Spiritual Warfare.
And you can get a FREE CHAPTER right here.
