O God, you are my God; eagerly I seek you; my soul thirsts
for you … as in a barren dry land where there is no water. Psalm 63:1
I like to think of myself as a fairly self-reliant person. I
don’t mind asking for help if I need it, but I really do try to stay out of
situations where I might have to look for assistance.
A few weeks back while going to church, my wife and I saw
two cars pass each other at an icy corner where they bumped, sending one off
the road and down the narrow, steep shoulder. Both drivers were going ever so
slowly and yet the ice, momentum, and nudge was all it took to wreak havoc.
There were no injuries and (amazingly) there was no damage to either vehicle.
Everyone stopped and made sure no one was hurt, and while two of us could not
get the ditched car back onto the road, several other Samaritans stopped,
joined us in the effort, and working together we succeeded.
One of the blessings we experience here in Montana is the
good cheer with which most people face a problem. In many of the more populous
areas of the country, people are so plentiful that many just assume that when
there’s an accident someone else will stop to help and, of course, they always
have 911 to fall back on. Here, despite being a self-reliant sort of people,
when a neighbor is in trouble, everyone “comes a running”.
Sometimes trouble is obvious. Seeing a car in the ditch or a
house on fire is kind of hard to miss if one is paying the least bit of
attention.
Harder to see, though, is a thirsty soul.
When people are thirsty, they generally go find something to
drink – and why not? We live in a land of abundance. Even the poorest of the
poor can find a glass of water when they’re thirsty. I have plenty of options
from which to choose at home: juice, milk, and assorted hot and cold beverages
are right at hand.
If I have a problem, it is in having an abundance of
choices. The question is less one of thirst than of figuring out what I’m in a
mood for, and therein is the rub. When I’m not thirsty, anything will do, and
when anything will do, nothing will truly satisfy me. When that happens, I’m
not in need, but in want – and that’s a bad place for me to be.
When my appetite drifts, it always drifts toward things that
really aren’t all that good for me – foods high in salt, sugar, or starches.
For some reason, I seldom drift toward carrots, celery, or foods low in
calories. I would like to think snack-foods have some sort of gravitational
pull on my body, but in reality I know it is neither the goodies nor is it the
body that is at fault. No, it is the space between my ears where one will find
the Milky Way swirling around in all its sweet chocolaty goodness.
When that happens, I find I need to stop for a minute and
actually engage in – oh, what is that word? Oh yes, I need to stop and actually
engage in thinking. I need to stop and ask myself what I “need”, rather than
what I “want”.
If I do that, I find my needs are far more manageable. I
need air (check); I need water (check); I need shelter (check); I need food –
something with nutritional value (oh, OK, check).
What else do people need, then?
Well, I think we need to know God cares, and when people
jump out of their cars on a wintry day to lend a hand pulling us up or pushing us
over to safety, I think, in our many acts of kindness – both big and small – we
become a living water that quenches the thirst of many parched souls. We become
the means of God’s grace, and that is a source of great comfort and
satisfaction for many.
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