My friend, Heather, and I talked about the feeling of overwhelm and weariness the other day.
“I am trying to make sure I have my quiet time,” one of us insisted, “but I still feel like I am running on empty.”
In the same conversation she sends me this quote by Ann Voskamp in “One Thousand Gifts.”
“You have to want to see the well before you can drink from it.”
Voskamp, 131
Later in the day I walk past the little goldfish pond my husband made from a clawfoot tub. He welded an old rusty pitcher to a copper pipe and it appears that water continuously pours from the pitcher to fill the tub. The water never runs out – it always pours out. But if you look closely, you see that the bottom of the pitcher is full of holes. It never holds any water – ever – it has nothing to give. The water flows from the pipe and is pumped up and through the pitcher.
I am that pitcher – rusty and full of holes. There is nothing in me that I can pour out to others – only what is poured out through me. When I try to pour out what I don’t have – I just feel more and more empty.
And its not enough just to sit with my Bible and mutter a few prayers. I need to pause and sit – abide – dwell in His presence. I need to want to be in His presence. I need to want to be filled.
“My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”
Jeremiah 2:13
So how do we truly pause in a way that allows God to fill us? Here are some of the ways I pause.
Rest
Sometimes we need to sleep and other times we need leisure. In his book, “An Unhurried Life“, Alan Fadling describes the difference between holy and unholy leisure. The difference is found in what is life-giving and that could be different for each of us. We sometimes think of leisure – or even sleeping – as idleness or laziness, but rest and leisure are biblical and necessary for quality of life.
Slow down
Take a moment, breathe, step outside of the whirlwind. It is hard to believe, but the world will continue to rotate when take a break. Take time to listen, to think, to reflect, to meditate. Slow your response, slow your reaction, take a time-out. You are allowed – give yourself permission and grace.
Talk to a friend
Choose someone who will encourage you in the Lord. (1 Samuel 23:16) Talk through the hard things. Laugh together, cry together. Admit (confess) your emptiness and attitude. Remind each other of God’s promises and grace and mercy. Point each other back to God.
Each of these 3 ideas are important and biblical, but the next is the most important and the only way to find true peace and lasting strength in the pause…
Practice abiding
The Greek word for abide is “meno” and Kelly Minter described this as “hanging on the vine” in her Bible Study, “What Love Is” – a study on John 1,2, and 3. Hanging out with Jesus – it is a peaceful and intentional activity – a remaining in His presence so He can fill us. Fadling (An Unhurried Life) titles this, “Extended Personal Communion” and it is the single most life-giving thing we can do. It is there – in the abiding, in the communion with God, that we find life and life to the full.
Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life.”
John 14:6
I must want to see The Well, I must drink deeply from The Well, and I must remain connected to The Well – always drawing from The Living Water – so I can continue to pour out.
“Whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
John 4:14