Drinking From a Fire Hose

An interesting by product of the growth in spirit that I’ve experienced recently has been an expanded vision. As I’ve found my center more firmly rooted in God it’s as if I’ve been able to lift my head higher and see more broadly around me. I see more and I see more clearly than I ever have before. I see myself, my ministry, my world and the path that God is stretching ahead of me with increasing clarity.

On the one hand this has been exciting. Pieces of my life, ministry and calling are coming together in ways that I’ve never before seen. It is giving me energy and focus that I’ve not had in a long time and a quality of spirituality that I’ve never had. This feeling of clarity reminds me a lot of the experience of getting a new prescription for my glasses. It isn’t as though I was totally blind with my previous glasses. The change and loss of focus was so gradual that it was almost imperceptible. It is only when the new glasses arrived that I realized just how out of focus things have become.

There is a shadow to this experience, however. As this greater clarity and energy emerges, so does an urgency to press forward. With the urgency to press forward grows the list of things that need to be done to live into and accomplish this new vision. Time becomes more and more a precious commodity. Oddly enough, what has suffered most for me these last few weeks is the intentional time with God that brought forth the greater clarity in the beginning. (Irony is a funny thing)

There is no doubt that drinking from a fire hose will satisfy the thirst of anyone who is parched. I still have to remember that too much of a good thing is as equally undesirable as the absence of it in the first place. In the midst of all that is new, exciting, stimulating, energizing and empowering I have to hold fast to my rule of life. This rule of life is more than simply a task that I’ve set for myself; I believe that it was discerned as part of my experience of God’s grace poured out through a more disciplined spiritual practice. This pattern of living while far from rigid and restrictive is nonetheless essential to living into God’s preferred future.

The learning continues. The journey continues.