Ok... so I'm getting jibes about not writing for ages - again! I thought you might enjoy this then - just a little something I had to write for the Division:
Hanging Up Signs, Wringing Out Sponges and the Word
I’ve been bombarded by analogies and illustrations of late and to say that they have left me challenged would probably be an understatement of sorts so let me share!
I wish I could sit here and describe a typical ‘day-in-the-life’ of a Corps Officer or a Social Officer but, alas, that is not yet my privilege! I can however, describe an all-too-familiar day from my desk at DHQ. The emails roll in, the days just seem to disappear, the ‘interruptions’ are a plenty and the to-do list grows – candidates need ‘processing’ (horrible word that!) and as one event fades into the distance, the next grows, looming ominously around the corner…and the tendency to hang up the ‘DO NOT DISTURB’ sign is tempting to say the least!
It wasn’t until someone said, “You’re just way too busy to stop for me,” that the penny really dropped. I realised that it is all too easy to hang up the ‘DO NOT DISTURB’ sign, whether we mean to or not, and I NEVER wanted to become the type of officer that did that!…Challenge Number One!
Then there’s my kitchen tap at home. It drips. Constantly. Relentlessly. And believe it or not, there’s just no solution! As I’m the type who can’t drive peacefully if my keys are rattling in the ignition, you can understand how a dripping kitchen tap in the quiet of the night nearly sends me over the edge!!
How did I get challenged from a dripping tap you ask? Well, my life-saving answer to the dripping tap is the kitchen sponge - it acts as my silencer and absorbs all the drips but then something else happens. It gets so full that it can’t absorb another drop and then it just seeps into the sink.
When we receive spiritual food week after week, month after month, year after year, we can become like the sponge. We can absorb so much that we can’t take anything else in… unless we start giving something out. And that got me thinking – when was the last time I wrung out my sponge – even just a little? Am I giving out or just constantly wanting to receive and be fed?…Challenge Number Two!
And then there’s the Word. How many miracles happened when Jesus was ‘interrupted’? How often are we encouraged to do things for others? Here’s what has been playing over and over in my mind since Livefire...
Matthew 25:34-36, 40 (NIV)
"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' …'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
…Challenge Number Three! If there’s a sign up in your life what would it read? If your life was a sponge how full would it be? Is it time to soak up some more or is it time to be wrung out? Wherever you are in your week – flat-out busy, humming along nicely, burdened or energised by your people, may God’s Word refresh you as it has me and continue to encourage and equip you for the journey ahead.
We drove there (stopping at that fantastic little café at Kekerengu on the way of course!) especially hoping to see the seals and there must have been close to 20 of them there – it was just great! Shaun, mad as a mad-hatter, stripped off to the knee and sat in the FREEZING cold water for a good 10-15mins patting the water getting the seals to come up and ‘say hello’ (how else to you describe their antics!!).
