By Marva Hardage - Guest Blogger
Growing up in a rural area afforded my three cousins and me many opportunities to traipse through the woods. As an only child, they were my constant playtime companions. We all lived close together, separated only by a gravel road. Back then, one could walk the woodland trails without fear of present-day worries.
As I do every morning, I made a pot of coffee first thing this morning. There is usually a little left in the pot from the morning before, which I pour into the sink before rinsing the pot and adding ater for the fresh coffee. This morning, there was a bowl in the sink that I had left there last night, filled with water so that any remaining food would wash away easily. The remaining leftover coffee went into the water bowl when I poured it. The result was a murky brown yucky colored bowl of water. So, I just let the water from the faucet run into the bowl. The murky color was gone in a few seconds, and all that remained was clear water.
Our lives are often like that. Sometimes, we allow ourselves to stagnate. We let the cares of the world creep in and surround us. And if we aren’t reading God’s word and taking time to communicate through prayer daily, those cares can overtake us. Then what happens? Remember the stagnant water? We, too, can become like that. We can become spiritually stagnant. And, I wonder, when that happens, does the Father see us as we see the muddy puddles of water? Does He smell the foul odor of sin and worldly cares we’ve allowed to overtake us?
Even when we’re trying -- even putting out a reasonable effort, we can still find ourselves like that water bowl in my sink this morning. We’re clean. The waters are clear. Then, boom! Something unexpected happens. Something devastates, hurts, or frustrates us so severely that we take our focus off Jesus. We face temptations, obstacles, or complex challenges and begin to feel less like praising and more like grumbling. We never know when our waters might be darkened with the murkiness of worldly cares. Like that bowl of water that turned dark when I poured out the leftover coffee, our clear waters become murky and ugly if we don’t continue to displace worldly cares with prayer, feeding on the Word, and meditating and listening to the Father. We must keep filling ourselves with spiritual things until the waters run clear, fresh, sparkling, and life-giving.
Stay focused, brothers and sisters. Stay focused and keep the waters running clear.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin.
Psalms 51:2 NASB 1995
A lifelong resident of rural Arkansas, Marva Hardage loves Jesus, writing, crocheting, baking homemade bread, and being an avid fan of the award-winning crowdfunded television show—The Chosen. She's a mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. Now a widow, she lives alone while enjoying her two dogs and several cats.
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