Some days I wake up, and it’s great. I have a verse in my head or a song rolling around in my heart. I’m happy from the minute I wake up and I get joyfully out of bed at 5 AM (without an alarm…I just wake up) and glide gracefully down the stairs to the kitchen and start the process of making my tea and open my Bible and start my day off with the rivers of living water bubbling up and flowing through me without even thinking.
And then….there are days like today. Days where I have more to get done than time to do it and I oversleep by an hour+ and couldn’t think of a single worship song if my life depended on it. I wake up just a bit (or a lot) grumpy and stumble down the stairs. Where is my teapot? Are ALL the mugs in the dishwasher? Where OH where is my Bible? I should go straight to coffee.
Rivers of what? Where? I know it’s there…..but I’m having a hard time finding it. Seems like a dry riverbed today. Then panic sets in…..I’m going to minister tonight? What?
And it keeps getting worse….locking myself out of the house and having to crawl in a tiny window like a thief (with a sprained ankle). Oops….forgot to pick up my kids. Late to a meeting. Unorganized. Snippy to the husband and short with the dog. (Did I mention the dog barked during every single business call I had today….so professional 🙁 ) Will it ever end?
Help. Me. Jesus!
Ever been there? Please…raise your hand – make me feel better about myself.
So what do you do when you’re not feelin’ it? When you have wells of stress and rivers of panic instead of the nice living water that’s supposed to be there?
“Are you thirsty? Come to Me and drink. And out of your heart will flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:37)
Stop and take a drink.
It’s like Dorothy and the Ruby slippers in The Wizard of Oz. She was on a quest for how to get home through the entire movie, and it wasn’t until the end that Glenda the good witch told her she had the power to go home all along in those amazing Ruby Slippers. Click them 3 times and say, “There’s no place like home.” Easy Peasy.
It doesn’t matter what kind of chaotic craziness our day has been. It doesn’t matter if we start with a song or as a grumpy hot mess. We have the power within us. The power to stir it up and tap back into grace. Back into rest. Back into peace. We have the same power that raised Christ from the dead living in us.
It doesn’t matter if we don’t feel a thing. Those rivers are in us full of life and power no matter how we feel. We just have to stir it up. Put ourselves in remembrance. Take a minute and pray. Put on some worship music and plug back into the source of grace.
So that’s what I did. I cranked up #8 on my husband’s CD and sang as loud as I could. And then #9. And of course #3 (my current favorite). And can I tell you….it made a huge difference. My day didn’t get any less chaotic. I still have more to do than time to get it done. BUT – my attitude changed. My peace level changed. I’m smiling again and all is well.
If you’re like me today….in the midst of a crazy, chaotic, mess of a day, take a second and take a drink of the rivers of life. It will change your day.