Canoeing, 'Step into the flow of the Spirit"

By Kim Greer 3/17/2010

A man calls a group of friends together for a 3 day
canoe trip. Out of the original group of ten two back out
right away with the original phone call, they fear
anything out of life experience. Two days before the trip
and after the money has been put up, two more drop out
because the other two that dropped out are not coming,
and they feel bad that they won't be there. Six left and
two days to go before stepping into an adventure of a
life time (with God). Two more drop out the next day
because they lent some other friends their camping
gear and don't want to borrow from others or have to
sleep outside.
Now it's the day of the trip, four people are just
overwhelmed with excitement. Heading out one starts
to tell the others they are afraid of tipping over and
maybe getting caught up, too excited, and drowning in
the river. The others assure her that she will be ok and
they will be there in case that happens. When they
arrive at the banks of the river the canoe company is
not there. They begin to worry that it's all been a bad
idea because of the troubles they have had and now all
their friends are not coming with them. After an hour
goes by one begins to become angry and threatens to
call the livery and cancel the whole thing. The livery
shows up in a few minutes and puts the canoes in the
river. The two experienced ones throw all their gear in
the canoe and push off shore. The other two become
agitated with everything, where the gear fits in the
canoe the best, who will sit in the back and steer, what
they should wear, after taking a half hour to decide
where it all goes, and what is what, they get ready to
push off, another problem now comes up, the push off
person that is to sit in front (and watch for danger)
doesn't want to get wet right away or at all. He pushes
off with just his feet wet, and they all start to head to
river.
After a little time the inexperienced canoers hit a log
and flip over, them, their gear, everything including the
canoe is going down stream and out of control. They
panic, splash around, scream and howler. The two
experienced ones come in close and grab their things
but do not help the couple. Why you ask? Because they
know the river, they know the others are safe when they
calm down and just stand up.
I think the story speaks for itself, and how others get
lost along the way, and how others, when they get
there, struggle trying to put everything in order, then
without seeing it come fall over head first. Then it takes
them awhile to learn that they can stand up and be
comfortable and enjoy the coolness and the wetness He
gives us if we just learn to relax in Him, enjoy the walk in
the water with Him, or float in the boat of life and let Him
take us down stream at His pace. May God take you on
a journey today and show you it is ok to "Step into the
Flow of the Spirit'.


Eyes of the Beholder

By Kimberly Priest

He gazed at the distant shadow of a figure, and with that one glimpse, threw
off the distance in haste. He would have been a match for chariots today! He
was less than a mile from the Promised Land: one hundred thirty-four pounds
of flesh…. .a limp, heaving mass of leanness; like a candle, deprived of its last
flame and left as only a pile of melted wax.
The dust flew wildly into the air behind the quickening pace of the old man.
He overcame the heaving shadow with an abundance of fatherly joy. "Ah!
Ah!" he praised as his heavy breathing gave him no room for greater words.
He embraced odorous skeletal weakness with a covenantal hold and a
handful of fast and faintly spoken Jewish prayers. Elderly fingers ran
themselves through knotted, dark brown hair, fingering strand by strand and
counting. …"One, two, three" in a whisper. Tears formed salty puddles upon
gaunt shoulders as the old man buried his face into his son's sunken frame.
Bodies were shaking; one with sobs of regret and the other with sobs of
ecstasy. They withered into mutual embrace on bended knee.
The old man grabbed the sullen face before him and coddled it between his
palms. He searched the features of his son with memories. He remembered
the eyes to be as ripe black olives kissed by reflections of the noonday sun.
He recalled the nose to be regal and held high. The mouth and jaw were
broad and laughing. The brow deep with heroic thoughts, the Life had been
drawn out of every bone and pore in his son's body, and yet the eyes of the old
man danced across the present portrait in celebration of the life that had
returned. "My beloved, beloved son," he whispered so close that the forlorn
younger man could feel the wind of the words touch his face and go down into
his very soul.
The years of separation… The physical, mental, emotional and moral
dissipation were drown eternally and forever washed away. After all, to all
consciousness, his son had been dead; no one had known of his welfare. And
now, to this father's relief, this beloved son had returned to the land of their
Living. A beloved son was all this old man's eyes chose to behold.

Six Days

By Kimberly Priest

“The heavens are the Lord’s heavens, but the earth he has given to the children of man,” Psalm 115:16.  It was a gift to us from our Father.  Just imagine.  Stir your heart to meditation.  Close your eyes… Unseen hands caressed with constancy the fortresses of the deep, alighting them with various creatures of color, coral reefs and caverns that kept their secrets. Laws formed under the disguise of beauty.  His whispers filling every flowering plant with desire; arousing communion between oceans and sand, forest and stream, mountain and valley.  Movement setting to motion springs, chlorophyll, antelope and deer.  Kisses to calm the prairies and stir up the breeze.  Dew to rejuvenate the earth’s tresses like myrrh.  Sweetness poured out.  Your lips awaken me…. The firefly sparks a single delight.  Imagine.  The deep darkness of night cannot hide You.  You are discovered by a multitude of stars answering to their names.  Your Spirit skips among the brook stones and the bubbling waters giggle underneath Your feet.  “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!  How vast is the sum of them!  If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you,” Psalm 139:17-18.  Many waters, many thoughts.  Unsearchable, unquenchable.  All of them for me…. Are you there yet? 

A garden planted in Eden.  The fragrant, flowering paradise of the first of the children of men.  God was there.  Calling, answering, seeking and being found.  No inner turmoil in the human breast and no controversy in the atmosphere.  No wars or rumors of them.  All was calm and all was bright.  The continuity of relationships, atmospheres and all of planet earth.

Despite the tragedy that Eden became, I still believe that it was a perfect idea.  The Divine Creator set out one day to have a family.  The way that He did this gives us a fascinating glimpse into His beautiful heart.  Genesis 1 tells us that for six days He never stopped working.  From the moment that His Spirit hovered over the face of the watery, murky planet, His Artful hands and Conceptive words began forming and seeding the surface.  The Creator stuck His fingers into the grey mud and moved it.  Like a Potter forming His clay.  “But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand,” Isaiah 64:8.  The thoughts of creation may conjure up mental displays of magical movements, sparkling blasts and instantaneous phenomena.  Perhaps it was this way.  But as an artist myself I am aware that art does not happen accidentally or magically.  It takes time, deep thought, careful placement and strokes of genius.  What am I trying to communicate through my painting?  What will the eye of the beholder immediately see?  What details should I add to flavor it?  What sort of production do I intend audiences to glean of generations from now?   What was God saying to us from the first moment of Earthen history?  The Genesis account declares to us that God created the fundamentals and details of our world with order and purpose.  “And God separated the light from the darkness,” Genesis 1:4.  “And God said, ‘Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear’,” Genesis 1:9.  Although, to the naked eye, creation may have unfolded with fantastic bangs and beautiful displays of color, the entire process was well ordered and expertly designed.  God made a dysfunctional planet very functional.  He created a dwelling place.  A structure that could support Life.  His Life, to be exact, contained in an earthen vessel. 

Six days of constant transformation. 

 

 

Because God Said So

By Kimberly Priest

We exist in a man’s world.  I’m not speaking of gender, but of humanity.  The recreation of planet Earth was an environmental gift to the human generations.  Because God said so.  “ And God said, ‘Let there be…,’ and there was…” Genesis 1:3.   It was a world of functionality, not a world of restrictions.  The skies, oceans and soil were seeded with possibilities.  Divinity rent His personality to reproduce His creative, functional Life in the Earthen atmosphere.  A designer world with both beauty and practicality.  A single tree springs from the dust and covers fifteen feet of paradise with cooling shade, sculpted branches and an array of leafy colors.  Furthermore it provides fruit for our succulent nourishment and reliable wood for fuel and shelter.  God created a sensible, sensual and picturesque environment for our eternal satisfaction.  He did this for you and I.

From the Genesis of human life, what picture is God painting?  What details would He have us discover?  What is He communicating?  The fall of mankind from the open relationship we enjoyed with Divinity often gets a good deal more publicity than the magnificent statement He made to our Dust.  “And God said, ‘Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit.  You shall have them for food.  And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life.  I have given every plant for food.’  And it was so,” Genesis 1:29-30.  To the first Man and the first Women in essence God said, “Here, have it all.  Enjoy it, use it, bless it, keep it functional and prospering.”  No strings attached.  The heart of Divinity really wanted humanity to have a good, eternal experience on planet Earth. “And God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth’,” Genesis 1:28.   

Notice something with me for a moment.  Genesis 2:5-9 pulls our perspective closer.  We take a zoom lens look at the formation of the Ad’am from dust.  “When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up – for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land and there was no man to work the ground, and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground – then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed.  And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.”  Notice something: God breathed, God planted, and God made to spring up.  God made it all happen.  God caused it.  God said and it was so.  Now widen the view.  Let your camera lens take in the entire Universe.  God said and it was so.  This great gift of Life and atmosphere, of beauty and function, of possibility and authority was given to us because God declared that it should be that way.  What a portrait.  The Divine Heart wanted us to have all this!  For the Greatest Among Men has said, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks,” Matthew 12:34. 

Now close your eyes and look again at a man’s world before man lost his place.  The Divine Heart is here fully expressed to us.  “Adam, Eve I made you able.  Here is the whole Earth.  Go at it!  I’ve given you what it takes!”  It’s what I hear anyway.  A Divine Heart respecting the nature of His creation.  Divinity had made the Dust able.  God saw with His own pure eyes that the creation was good.  It was functional and capable.  It was beautiful and sensual.  It lacked nothing.  I paint for you strokes of generosity, freedom and respect.  That’s what I see anyway.

 

A Right Judgment

by Kimberly Priest

The small pebble pelted his left temple.  David didn’t flinch.  “Dog!  You filthy, vile dog!” came the ridicule from the hillside that ran parallel to the road.  David bowed his hooded head lower.  Tears had not stopped flowing ever since their ascent upon the Mount of Olives.  “Get out, get out, you man of blood, you worthless man!”  David heard the taunt so distantly as his mind imagined that young Absalom was now entering Jerusalem, a conqueror of his father’s throne.  

The streets of Bahurim were scattered with onlookers.  Faces betrayed the presence of many opinions.  But a man from the household of Saul, Shimei, shared his opinion openly, “The Lord has avenged on you all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned, and the Lord has given his kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom.  See, your evil is on you, for you are a man of blood.”  David’s conscience ached from the verbal blows.  This was prime opportunity for Adversarial perspectives.  He rubbed his forehead as he attempted to quickly dismiss the questions waging war within, “Did I hunt Saul?  No, Saul hunted me.  Did I usurp the throne?  No, God promised it to me and I was willing to patiently wait.  Did I take Saul’s life?  No, Saul took his own.  In all the opportunities I had to take it, I did not.  O God I need your help!  Keep my heart from unrighteous anger!”

Abishai,  of David’s mighty men, whirled about to face David, swiftly drawing his sword, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king?  Let me go over to take off his head.”  Abishai’s eyes sparked with too much passion for the kill.  David halted abruptly, placed his left hand on Abishai’s armed shoulder, and slowly scolded with his tone, “What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah?” he paused.  Abishai lowered his sword.  The king lifted his countenance and strengthened his stance.  Even in bare feet, he was more regal of appearance than the greatest among men.  All of the mighty men moved not a finger, waiting for the king to speak.  Lifting his arm towards Shimei, he said, “If he is cursing because the Lord has said to him, ‘Curse David,’ who then shall say ‘Why have you done so?’  Behold , my own son seeks my life; how much more now may this Benjamite!  Leave him alone,” David shouted, “And let him curse, for the Lord has told him to.  It may be that the Lord will look on the wrong done to me, and that the Lord will repay me with good for his cursing today.”  David lowered his arm and inhaled a deep breath.  He placed the fallen hood back over his head and started down the Bahurim road again.  All of the mighty men said not a word as they resumed walking, fleeing from Absalom.  Shimei continued to follow along on the hillside opposite David, cursing as he went, throwing stones and flinging dust at David and his mighty men.

This is probably my favorite story in all of Scripture.  I consider David’s heroism of heart in this one circumstance to far outshine the Epics of Biblical Tale we usually praise.  I see a man on a cross here.  A man unafraid of human judgment.  A man willing to be tested and tried in the human arena.  A man who trusted that his God would always make a right judgment of his life.

We live in a day and time when most individuals deeply fear judgment.  Even in Christian circles, we are gun shy of the judgments imposed on us by brothers and sisters in the faith.  We often preach, from our personal platforms, more about others not judging us than we are conscience of how much we judge others.  We’re frightened.  We’re touchy and terrified.  But what if the judgments of man did not matter?  What if we did not assume that man had this sort of power, authority or control over our temporal or eternal destiny?  David was a human being just like you and I.  And after years of maturity, he had dismissed his fear of human judgment.  David gave that sort of power, authority and control to God.  God would justly judge David… .and Shimei.  God was able to take care of Shimei’s personal opinion.  David would leave himself and Shimei to God.

 

 

 

Heroes

 

By Kimberly Priest

 

What is your definition of a “hero”?  Courageous?  Valiant?  Epic?  All of these are good answers.  But we must ask another question: What is Courage and Valor?  What is truly Epic?  “So David and his men went on the road, while Shimei went along on the hillside opposite him and cursed as he went and threw stones at him and flung dust,” 2 Samuel 16:13.  Is there anything Courageous, Valiant or Epic written here?

I believe there is.  It takes great courage to trust God with every outcome.  It is both valiant and epic when we do what we know we ought to do without any sign that all will turn out well.  It takes faith in God’s abilities and intentions to obey conscience when it would be easier not to.  It takes the Mind of Christ to offer salvation at personal cost. 

It is heroic to leave your destiny in the hands of God as you rally to exalt the destinies of others.  It is heroic to refrain from judging one who has chosen to judge you.  It is heroic to bless when you are cursed.  It is heroic to love your enemies.  It is heroic to stand in the arena of human judgment and believe that God will treat you fairly.  It is heroic when you do justice towards those who have not been just to you.   It is heroic to defend the causes of those who cannot defend you.

“But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.  Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.  Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you,” Luke 6:35-38.  You will be a Hero.  Just as Christ was a Hero to you.

It is heroic to leave judgment of even your enemies to the Creator.  It is heroic to stand as one merciful, kind and forgiving when it is not gratefully received.  It is heroic to believe, in every situation, that God will be just towards you.  He will judge you fairly. 

And David said, “It may be that the Lord will look on the wrong done to me, and that the Lord will repay me with good for his cursing today,” 2 Samuel 16:12.  Heroic.  Trusting God.  Leaving to Him all the judgment.  He or she who does this, will be a Hero in the History Books of Heaven.

 

 

Jacob’s Well

by Kimberly Priest

It was hot.  It was the middle of the day.  It was the time of day that a social outcast was expected to get water from Jacob’s Well.  She was a social outcast.  Even among the mostly pagan Samaritans, she was an outcast.  Her lifestyle was questionable and avoided.  Mothers whispered about her to their children.  And old women concocted fantastic stories about why this woman had had five husbands.  Sometimes she got sympathy.  After all, maybe her former husbands were displeased with her.  But the sympathy was secretive; no one dared risk reputation.  Mostly, she got noses.  They pointed upward, supporting slits of unmoved eyes and crowning motionless strips of lip. 

She pulled her cloak over her forehead to shield her eyes from the straightforward sun.  In the morning, the ladies helped one another juggle their jars, but she would make another attempt to balance hers alone.  As she drew near the well, she spied a man sitting on the edge of the stone.  She hesitated and glanced nervously about.  It wasn’t highly unusual for a man to come and get a drink at any time of day, but she couldn’t afford any additional ammunition for the gossip chains.  Oh well, she thought, what difference does it make now!  She approached the well casually and unloaded her jar.  She did her best to appear relaxed and indifferent to his presence.  But he didn’t facilitate her indifference, “May I have a drink?” he asked.  She jumped.  The request startled her.  And then her eyes fell upon the features of his face.  The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?’  (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)  Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, Give me a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.’  The woman said to him, ‘Sir you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep.  Where do you get that living water?  Are you greater than our father Jacob?  He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.’  Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever.  The water that I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’  The woman said, ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.’” John 4:9-15.

Now He had her full attention.  A man, a Jew, who spoke with her freely and had water that quenched thirst forever.  No more embarrassing trips to the well at noonday. “Jesus said to her, ‘Go, call your husband and come here.’  The woman answered him, ‘I have no husband.’  Jesus said to her, ‘You are right in saying, ‘ I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband.  What you have said is true.’  The woman said to him, ‘Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.  Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.’” John 4:16-20.   Disappointment.  He was just another Jewish prophet come to tell her why she had no hope of knowing God.  She had come to feel that the religious system was nothing more than a political debate over who should be in charge.  But this Man was taking the conversation a different direction… “Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.  You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.  But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him, God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in sprit and truth.” John 4:21-24.

The Samaritan women looked off into the distance.  She didn’t understand the meaning of His words.  They sounded interesting, but what she longed to see someday was the Man who was supposed to save everybody. …the Messiah.  She wanted to know what this wonderful Man would do to bring freedom and miracles and quality to life.  She looked back at this foolish Jewish man spouting prophecies.  Probably she would never see the Messiah.  Probably she would never have a chance to understand all of these things.  “The woman said to him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ).  When he comes, he will tell us all things.’  Jesus said to her, ‘I who speak to you am he,’” John 4:25-26.  Seriously?  It took a moment to sink in.  Then her jaw dropped, her knees went weak, and she felt a little sick. …overwhelmed.  The Jewish Messiah had just spent the past hour talking with her casually!  He had asked her for water and prophesied her past.  And never once did she feel belittled or her sins unnecessarily exposed.  He just said He knew about it and than offered her some forever water!  He respected her feminine Samaritan person and offered to give her something!  This was not normal or usual in any sense.

Just then his disciples came back.  They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, ‘What do you seek?’ or ‘Why are you talking with her?’” John 4:27.  They weren’t going to say it, but this wasn’t normal or usual in any sense.  “ So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, ‘Come see, a man who told me all that I ever did.  Can this be the Christ?’  They went out of town and were coming to him,” John 4:4-30.

 

 

The Whole Story

 

by Kimberly Priest

The ears of the audience were destined for a magnificent quality of sound tonight.  They watched intently as the soloist arrived at center stage.  They gloried for a full twenty minutes of deep resonance and perfect pitch.  During that time, the audience could not see the hours of driven practical steps required to achieve this performance.  They could not hear the sour notes, the attentive correction of vocal instructors and the rigorous voice strengthening exercises rehearsed day after day after day, hour after hour after hour.  The audience saw and heard only this present twenty minute performance.

Life doesn’t happen in moments.  It happens in layers of hours and days and years.  There is a story unfolding.  Our lives happen in one long story.  As spectators, we see and hear only glimpses of our neighbors story.  We see their lives in a series of performances.  We form opinions and carry along ideas based on our limited views and collection of sounds.  Not one of us perceives the whole story of our neighbors life. 

Ecclesiastes 3 says that there is, “a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones,and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and  a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.”  Each of our lives are in the midst of these “times”.  We experience the ebbing and flowing of their seasons in our personal stories.  We, alone, walk through the effects of their sights and sounds while spectators glean their glimpses. 

Glimpses are not enough to form opinions.  They are not sufficient to make full and profound judgments.  And yet, we do it anyway.  When was the last time you sat yourself down across from your neighbor and listened for an hour or two or three?  Have you ever considered committing yourself to listen to another’s story for a week, a month, or even years?  When was the last time you committed your heart to the careful consideration of someone’s story?  Making yourself a conscious friend?  Opening your ears and eyes to the fullness of perspective?  For someone’s lifetime perhaps?  After all, their life has unfolded in a story.  It is longer and deeper than you are aware of right now.  You should know their story.  And someone should know yours.

God perceives our lives within their respective stories.  His eyes and ears and heart have been committed to the conscious cause of knowing your times and seasons.  The judgments that He forms are based on careful considerations of your comings and goings, your loses and wins, your knowledge and ignorance and so on and so forth.  He knows ALL of you.  In Isaiah, it was prophesied of the Christ, that He would leave all judgment of our individual lives to the One who knew the whole story.  “He will not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge…” Isaiah 11:3.  He would judge our lives from a right condition, a perfect perspective, a proper division of the whole story.  Our actions would be tied to their respective motives which would be known within the context of their probable provocations.  In other words, He would know exactly why, from our heart and past experiences, we do what we do and say what we say.  Jesus Christ would lend His ears and eyes to the Father because the Father knew the whole story of every life that Christ came into contact with.  He judges us within our stories, not apart from them.

This is both good news AND good advice to us.  We ought also to follow Christ in this.  We ought also to lend our eyes and ears to the One who knows the whole story.  And we ought also to lend our heart to our neighbor, committing to know their story.  Reserve judgment.  Embrace your neighbor.  Know their story.

 

 

 

Explanations of the Heart

 

by Kimberly Priest

 

The creation did not need fixing or figured out.  It needed understanding.  An understanding that could fearfully and wonderfully remake the individual.  The weak human vessel needed total recreating.  “The water that I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life,” John 4:13.  The human vessel needed the nurture of Eternity. 

The quality of our restoration is Eternal.  And that’s why it requires a continual drink.  It is a flowing supplement that sustains our hearts.  “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds,” Jeremiah 17:10.  The eyes of the Lord search the emotions, desires and motivations that often run too deep for words.  If we attempt in any way to fix our demanding hearts, we will come very short of the ability.  “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick; who can understand it?” Jeremiah 17:9.  The Woman at the Well looked for a Messiah to enlighten her to the inner things.  Why so many husbands?  Why the curse of noonday?  And why worship a God so far away?  The Messiah knew her heart.  We often attempt to come at the human heart from all directions, looking for a way to rearrange and make it better.  But God said, “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannessses. …and I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.  And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules,” Ezekiel 36:25-27.  God will cause it.   A drink of cool Spiritual water will wash away an old consciousness.  And a new heart, a new consciousness will remain of Eternal Living things.

Each and every one of us have many “reasons” running through our hearts and minds, our emotions and thoughts, our bloodlines and experiences that provoke us to lead our lives the way we do.  Things are not always what they seem.  We may be totally rebellious in our desires and actions or pressured and deceived.  Only the Creator knows for certain.  Rather than quickly and justly destroy us in our various unrighteous ways, He chooses to come close and speak to our lostness.  He chooses to offer an opportunity for rescue.  He chooses to mercifully hold out a drink of Eternity - He offers a drink of Eternal searching.  He offers to inhabit our lives with a new perspective, a new consciousness, a New Life.  He offers to abide as a New Heart and a New Mind within us. ….and search.   He will search us forever if we will meet, move and search with Him.  If we will dive into our reasons and let Him make ALL THINGS NEW! 

Here we stand.  Very thirsty, very hungry, very dirty and gaunt.  We are barely surviving.  The sun is beating down.  And we know we haven’t got a prayer.  We need water to quench our reasons. But we don’t deserve it.  We haven’t exactly been this merciful towards others.  We have five husbands to testify to that.  But He knows our hearts.  He knows what we are in need of.  He knows the just explanations that we need to get and give.  Look for the Messiah.  The explanations of the heart are from Him.  And He has come to help, not hinder, our cause by connecting us with His explanations.  “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding,” Proverbs 3:5.