toilet bowl

Spring is in full swing around here. There is lots of baseball, softball, and county fair talk. The trampoline has hooked back up with the sprinkler and seems to be the favorite pastime again this year. We are mowing, weeding, and I am particularly enjoying my purple martins and the constant chatter they keep going in the air. It is music to my ears and makes me want to sit on my back porch all day. My kids are growing up right before my eyes, and I must say that my dogs are growing up too. Our lab has reached a hefty size that she probably needs chase balls more and eat less. (Don’t we all?) Our Jack Russell, Bubs, has reached a height that he can now…drumroll please… drink water out of the toilet. He has been a fan of the water in the shower for quite some time now, but has suddenly graduated to the toilet bowl for his primary source of hydration and loves it! One day last week I filled up his nice, clean, silver bowl with fresh water from the sink and watched him walk past it to make his way down the hallway to the bathroom for a drink. I fussed at him and told him that was the dumbest thing I had ever seen. After I scolded him, I pointed in the living room to his “area” and reminded him that his water in there waiting. All of a sudden I had an “AH-HA” moment. I thought about how stupid Bubs was to take in the toilet water over clean water that had been laid out and prepared especially for him. Likewise, how stupid am I am when I choose to go my own way and “take” in the junk of the world when the Lord has laid out and prepared for me a good life? Let me explain…maybe just maybe, we pick” toilet water” over “living water” on a regular basis because we are so used to it that we don’t even know the difference anymore. We can live in defeat, depression, and sin for so long that we have forgotten about the goodness of the Lord. We know something is wrong or something is missing, but we are too busy and complacent to even look up and do something about it. Maybe too our plummet to the “toilet water” was so gradual that we did not even realize we were headed in that direction. I am not a name it, claim it type of Christian because I believe with all of my heart that the Lord does allow hard times to come because they make us lean on Him. However, I also think many Believers are living in constant defeat when the Lord is ready and willing to help them overcome sin and live victoriously. I feel like sometimes God must look down and think…why on earth would he/she do that and make such a mess of things when I prepared something so much better? I sure did wonder that about my beloved dog and I know God wonders that about me. He must just shake His head and think…WHY? I am on a mission this week to move from the “toilet water” to the living water of Jesus Christ, so join me. The Lord is pointing us in the right direction if we will just look up, listen, and obey. He has prepared a way and choosing anything other than His way his just plain stupid. Deuteronomy 28:2 says “All of these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you obey the LORD your God.” That sounds good to me. What about you?