August 26, 2009
Sweet Water
by Hännah Schlaudt, Crosswalk.com Editorial Assistant
You are not your own; you were bought at a price.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
I'm late again. My sister and I had a squabble ten minutes ago about something inane. The toll money is still sitting on my desk. And I have a gut-wrenching email to write when I'm on my lunch break, if I can bear to write it. These are my "trials."
Just when I'm getting into the groove of grumbling, my boyfriend calls. But he won't let me dump my pity-party in his lap: "Hännah, whose are you?"
I am not my own. I was bought with a price. (1 Cor. 6:19-20)
These mundane struggles shake my peace and spill out my ugly response. But Amy Carmichael's words from her little book If convict me:
"If a sudden jar can cause me to speak an impatient, unloving word, then I know nothing of Calvary love. For a cup brimful of sweet water cannot spill even one drop of bitter water, however suddenly jolted."
The sweet water isn't just going to show up one morning and start gushing everywhere. The peacefulness and love that Amy hints at aren't native residents of my heart. They have to be fostered and encouraged.
If I belong to him, God has given me the tools to foster that quiet, peaceful heart, by the power of his Spirit and his mercies new every morning. The foremost of these tools, I believe, is thanksgiving.
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 4:4-7, ESV
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. - Colossians 3:15, ESV
Paul makes it very clear: peace and thankfulness work together. The direct counter to anxiousness is thanksgiving and prayer, which gives way to rejoicing and peace.
In light of this, I'm on an adventure. By the grace of God, I'm going to hunt for things to be thankful for. I may even start a thankfulness list on my yellow legal pad. As I am more aware of how I've been blessed, the anxieties I've been slave to will be put into perspective. My God is bigger than my troubles, and his grace is made perfect in my weakness.
I want to spill sweet water if I'm bumped. Will you hunt for grace with me? He has given us many reasons to rejoice.