A Refreshing Life

Have you ever seen a pond of water?  You know, the ones that are stagnant green, and stinky?

Now, have you ever seen a spring fed pool, fresh and constantly changing?

Which is more appealing?

Status Quo. Merriam Webster defines it as "the existing state of affairs"  with regards to trying to preserve them.

Refreshing. This is defined as "agreeably stimulating because of freshness and newness".

What about these two definitions?  What about the contrast?  How are they applying to my life?

God has been molding my perspective on change lately.  He has also been teaching me that this life is merely our journey to real life.  

I am packing boxes with sweaters and scarves, scarlet leaves and gold, some books which are particular friends, and anything else that is considered mine.  These boxes will go with us as we move away.  Away from what we have always known, from the familiar home, and our status quo.  

Will it be refreshing?  I'm sure, in ways, it will.  Will it be easy?  No, it won't.

Have you ever stood beneath a waterfall?  It is refreshing, the water is pure, from some reservoir beneath the earth's surface.  But it is cold, almost shockingly so.  It hurts, but it feels good.  It is fresh and refreshing.  And somehow, as you stand beneath the flow, your body is torn between the warmth you felt moments before, and the refreshing coolness you feel in the stream.

It is the human struggle between the comfortable and the fresh newness.  

There is nothing refreshing in a stagnant pond.  It sits there in the same way that it has for always. And the longer it sits, the more scum builds up; the more it continues to smell and fester.  It is almost like the entire thing is crying out for a cool, fresh stream to come barreling through, stirring it up.

The longer I sit, in the same way, always doing the same things, the more I will fester and become dull, like the moss on the pond.  I need a rushing stream to refresh my life.

Don't think that everyone needs to move away to refresh their life.  I believe this comes in so many forms.  But God has chosen the sort of stream to stir things up.  This is the way it is for us.

A challenge it will be, to not jump out from under the waterfall.   But God is faithful, and he will keep things stirred up, and keep me walking through it; for I "walk by faith, not by sight". (2 Corinthians 5:7)

*Thank you to our associate pastor for bringing up the term "status quo", it opened up an entirely new train of thought for me.