The Pipe

"Lord, this rivers of living water thing has really gotten my attention.  It has been on my mind off and on through the day.  Since reading it yesterday, I have not been able to lay it down.  I wonder if there is more here.  I wonder if I am missing something.  I spent some time reading back through the earlier chapters of John and, Lord, there was a lot of water images.  John the Baptist makes anyone think of water.  Then there was the water being turned into wine.  The healing at the pool.  And, then there was the woman at Jacob's Well who got offered the living water.

 

But, this rivers of living water flowing out of believers like me is something altogether different.  If I am getting it right, You are the Source of this living water that flows through me.  I get it that it does not come to me so that I can bathe in it, make myself clean by it, or report to others how I am being favored by some special blessing.  It does not stop in me, it just flows from You to others through me.  I am kinda like the pipe, the means by which You are choosing to touch other folks.  It does not start in me, Lord, but in You.  This living water just passes through me.

 

There have been times when I acted as if others needed me to be blessed, but I surely got that one wrong.  What they needed was not me, but what You were seeking to do through me.  What others needed was the living water that springs from Your heart and moves through me on the way to them.  But, why Lord?  Why did You choose to do it this way?  You really do not need me to bless others. I am not complaining, Lord.  I guess I am more humbled and amazed than anything else.  Of all the ways You could do Your stuff in the world, and, there You go making me a part of it.  I don't get it, but I surely do thank You.  Amen."