Aquifers of Life

Yesterday I would have posted a cutesy little something about my summer plans. But today I have been sobered by the realization of just how easy it is to become detached and distracted from abiding in the Source of all life's satisfaction, joy and purpose--Jesus Christ.

It has been a mere nine days of summer and I have tasted of the goodness of that Source as I never have before. For the most part it has not been a wild, ecstatic sort of experience, the kind that makes a person want to dance all across the house with uncontainable excitement. It has been quiet, calm and soft. Yet it has been deep, rich and persistent, like sinking peacefully into a long, gentle embrace.

I can explain the uniqueness of this experience only by illustration. It is as if all the puddles, streams, rivers, and oceans that have been welling up on the surface of my soul and satisfying my spiritual thirst have finally begun to permeate its bedrock and have become aquifers of life sustaining my very being. Those rivers and streams, once so lovely and refreshing on the surface, have started to become the undercurrent and groundwater of my life.

Yet, there is so much in this life that seeks to drag me away from that Source. Many things seek to bore holes in my spirit and drain away its life-giving aquifers. For example, just one not-so-horrible movie this weekend got my mind looping on unholy thoughts and totally distracted from meditating on the Lord and maintaining a prayerful spirit. Such distraction is absolutely not worth any passing pleasure gained in the moment.

Ultimately, what I desire to be true in my life--as a reflection of the fact that Jesus Christ is my life's Source--is that I unfailingly find my spirit and mind enlivened by His Word and His presence, and that I want nothing more than to know and be known by Him.

The Meaning of the Title

The title for this blog comes from a relatively insignificant book written by Amy Carmichael during one of her many years as a missionary in India. Entitled His Thoughts Said... His Father Said..., this book is meant to be a series of conversations between God and one of His children throughout various circumstances (primarily trials) of life.

One of the conversations proceeds thus:

His thoughts said, 'The rocks are far too steep for me. I cannot climb.'
     His father said, 'With Me as thy Guide, thou canst. I have not given thee the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of discipline. Whence then this spirit of fear?'
     His thoughts said, 'But who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord or who shall rise up in His holy place? Shall I ever pass the foothills?'
     His Father said, 'Is thine heart set on ascents?'
     The son answered, 'O Lord, Thou knowest.'
     And the Father comforted him. 'Commit thy way--thy way to the summit--to thy Lord. Only let thine heart be set on ascents.' And the Father added, 'Dear son, I will keep thine heart sent on ascents.'

"Is thine heart set on ascents?" That is the question that I have felt pressing into my mind and soul for many months. Not always in that language, but always with that meaning. Amazingly, the question was not, "Have you made it to the summit?" Or even, "Are you ascending?" But simply, "Is thine heart set on ascents?"

My honest answer to the first two questions is often 'no'. But my honest answer to the last is almost always 'yes'. However, even when I find myself sorrowfully (or even coldly) saying 'no' to that final question, the last phrase rings in my mind, "Dear son, I will keep thine heart set on ascents?"

Joyfully I remember: this task of ascending to the heights of life in Christ is not primarily mine. It is His work. Him who loved me first (1 John 4:19) and called me to embark on this wondrous journey with Him (Romans 5:8-11). Always with Him, never alone or in my own strength. He wants me to ascend, He calls me to ascend; my heart is set on Him, so my heart is set on ascents.