A Stream to Feed the Garden

As I prepare for another school year, I am reminded of several things. One is that I am unable to do anything without the help of my Maker. "In Him we live and move and have our being" (Acts). "I am the Vine and you are the branches...without me you can do nothing. " (John) I always know this and very often think on these things, but at the beginning of every school year, I am made MUCH more aware of this, reminded of my weakness, how finite I am, how very much I need the LORD's help. The second thing I am reminded of is that I don't spend enough time abiding in the Vine, in Bible reading and prayer. I mean, I pray, talk to the LORD, read my Bible with some regularity, but REALLY seeking Him, early in the day for the strength that I need~ this is where I fall short. There are good seasons and bad seasons of this for me, times when I am faithful in this way and times when I am not.

But I do know one thing ~ there is a world of difference in my life when I actively live my life like I can't live without Him and spend good times seeking His face. It is a weird thing that I find over and over through my years, especially as my years as a mom. It's like an amazing thing occurs on the days when I run to Him early, seek Him hard. My heart is changed, I feel strengthened and much more full of grace. Oh how I need grace in this job of mothering and teaching my children!!

I need to be a "stream to feed the garden". Have you heard the "Sacred" song by Caedmon's Call? Oh what a song chock-ful of truth...In that song it talks about the job of a mom and what is required and what is important. One of the lines says,"when I forget to drink from You, I can feel the banks harden. Lord, make me like stream to feed the garden..." Ahhh, a stream...to feed the garden. Me, the stream to feed the garden of my children. What a beautiful picture!! But even more beautiful than that picture is the picture of me, or you, drinking from the water source, Christ our LORD. That is what I need so desperately!! I can't do this great task of mothering and teaching these kiddos without Him. Why would I want to?? I need the power of Christ~ to love, to teach, to guide, to direct their little hearts and lives.

When I forget to go to Him, I am quick to anger, slow to be gracious and easily contentious, and further more impatient overall. But when I do drink from the deep wells of God's love, grace and truth, through Bible reading and prayer, you know, I find that I have something to give to all those little people who look to me for help, guidance and love. It isn't magic, though it feels like that sometimes. It is the power of the Holy Spirit, the Helper that Jesus said He would send, to help and comfort us while we live and look forward to His return.

Today I started well seeking Him early, and it was refreshing and good. Not like a check on the checklist, but more like a filling of the tank, a strengthening and readying of the soul, a putting on of armour and the eating of something hearty before going out to battle or a long trek. I look for many more days like that ahead of me (May He give me grace to sit with Him each morning). "I am the servant, not the source". So I must get filled up from the Source so I can let His love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control flow through me.