As we put the clocks forward, notice the flowers emerge and enjoy the longer days; it feels like we are entering a new season….or does it?
It’s 2 years since Covid and a month after Russia invaded Ukraine. We seem to be moving from one season of uncertainty to another.
I’ve been thinking around the phrase, ‘this is the season…..’
The Bible says, ‘there is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens.’ (Ecc. 3 v.1)
So what is this the season for?
I think it’s the season to check your WELL….
In Exodus chapter 2 Moses has run away to the desert. He got it all wrong, his anger and frustration towards injustice built up and he took matters into his own hands. He ended up in a desert not sure of his identity, no sense of community and into a season of obscurity.
In Ex. 2 v. 15 it says, ‘…he sat down by a well.’
In the Bible the WELL is often a metaphor for the soul. Jesus engages with a woman at a WELL and connects the natural water with spiritual water….the soul, the interior life.
Here’s my big thought….every WELL has a bucket right? If that’s the case…then….
What’s in the WELL will come up in the bucket!
Moses’ WELL was damaged, drained, dried up….depleted.
After the past 2 years many of us would identify with those words. It feels like our soul has taken a battering, we are drained, dried up and more than a little depleted. It’s so hard to pour anything from an empty cup!
If it’s true that whatever is in the WELL will come up in the bucket, what’s coming up in your bucket these days?
If we are depleted and drained maybe it’s the gunk (Hebrew word!!!) or rubbish that’s coming up in the bucket?
We seem more angry, more divided, more critical and cynical than we were, maybe it’s a WELL issue?
So….as we enter this new season physically, my challenge to me and to you is to enter it not just at a practical level but at a soul level, an interior level.
Here’s some questions to help us answer the question, ‘how well is my WELL?’
Am I more loving? Am I more patient? Am I more hopeful? Am I more forgiving?
Do I see the goodness of God even when life is tough? Do I believe things can change?
All these things flow from a WELL that’s full of life giving water, where we are connected to the source and where His life flows through us and out of us…..“Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again and again. Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst—not ever. The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life” – John 4 v.13-14 MSG
Q1 No Q2 Yes
My approach to others has not changed an awful lot; my vision and knowledge of God has though. I know life as so much tougher so I see what is life sustaining, the goodness of God far more sharply. I believe that things will change, in fact I know completely that they will. When, how, what will change I don’t know, but time is in God’s hands and ‘He Will’. For me the season changed at the start of 2022 with the word for the year being TRANSFORMATION; this season is not a set period, such as 3 months, but a process. I see Lifecentral and community drawing closer, as church draws into the poverty that is deepening around us with bills going up, into hearts crying out for Ukraine, as it echoes the pain of community for shrinking mental health support for children and young people when they need it most etc. There’s another in the fire, there’s another in this neighbourhood, and it’s Jesus …. in and through us. For me the season is about transforming into seasoning, transforming flavours in the tough times to come, and transforming darkness by being light from the inside out, within the community, both reflecting the other as we transform to identify as one through heart and soul.
Amen! Thank you