Never Failing

Draining. That's how life can be, how life is. Giving 110% doesn't come so easy anymore. Conversations don't seem as deep and meaningful as they once were. Classes seem to take a lot more work for the learning that is being accomplished. Planning here and organizing there doesn't seem to accomplish as much as they should. Every minute of time is consumed by reading, writing, meeting, and eating. Any moment given to rest is not truly rest, for thoughts go straight to making a list of all things that need to get done. Sleep is a chance to recharge the batteries that are completely spent at the end of the day, bringing them back to full power for the morning and beginning of a new day.

What has happened? Where did life go? How did the joy in every day things disappear? The schedule is full, the time is not wasted, and yet......... is there really fulfillment?

Not if I think I'm doing this on my own. 

"If you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday." Isaiah 58:10

I'm trying! I listen, I work hard, I do my best. It's not good enough! My light doesn't feel like it's rising in the darkness. If anything, it feels like it's being extinguished by the darkness. 

Read on.

"The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be alike a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings." Isaiah 58:11-12

The Lord satisfies. The Lord strengthens. The Lord waters. The Lord fulfills. We get tired, drained, worn-out and broken. We want to give up. The scorched land saps our energy and takes our life from before our eyes. The garden of our hearts starts to dry up and the flowers begin to fade. And then Jesus offers us a cup of Living Water. He rejuvenates us with water that never fails. His water. We are well watered because He is a loving, generous, gracious God. He repairs us so then we can be called Repairers of Broken Walls and Restorers of Streets with Dwellings. We love because He first loved us. We pour out all we have for those around us because He first fills us up with the life-giving water that never fails.