Desert Song

We are creatures of change. Whether we resist it (like me) or embrace it, it is the truth of our existence. We're supposed to change, to be altered. Not only that, our world and our life are marked by changing seasons. Don't let anyone fool you into thinking that your life is supposed to always have the same type of growth or production. A hard thing for Christians who are devoted to ministry to accept is the fact that there will come a season when you need to just stop. If the once fertile ground of your heart does not have this season of rest, the product will be less healthy, less bountiful, less strong...simply: less.

Maybe your full transition of seasons runs in a day: morning is your rest as you sit at Jesus' feet in communion; day is spent planting seeds; and in evening you see the fruit. But maybe your seasons are a bit longer. Make no mistake: there is always something to be done to further God's kingdom, but the worst type of poor stewardship is to assume that you are the one that constantly needs to be doing it. Your spirit and life is the first thing that God has given you to take care of, and he knows our limits.

I heard a speaker once describe seasons of the soul in this way: she took a cup half caked with muddy sludge and poured clear water into it to the top. Swirling it around, she likened the cup to our spiritual state. We are messy, but we are filled by God. She then poured out the muddy mixture and filled the cup again with clear water and again pour that mixture out. This time what was poured out was less cloudy. Each time she filled the cup with clear water and poured it out, the mud was less and less.

We are built to poured out for others in service to God, but we are also meant in the same cycle to be filled by God. The more we allow this change of seasons, this cycle, the cleaner - more Christ-like - we become. Don't neglect your season of filling. Don't mistake constant work for devotion. It's not the way we were designed. We were designed to be filled and emptied in turn; "I know I'm filled to be emptied again; the seed I've received I will sow."* Don't forget to rest in God so he can give you that seed.

*"Desert Song," Hillsong United