O God, you are my God, I seek you,
My soul thirsts for you;
My flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land
Where there is no water.
So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary
Beholding your power and glory.
Because your steadfast love is better than life,
My lips will praise you. – Psalm 63:1-3
The season of Lent is a time when we turn our focus on our relationship with God, and to examine that which pulls us away from God. The psalmist recognizes his thirst for God, a thirsty soul, a flesh that faints for lack of connection, sustenance as if in a desert, a wilderness without water.
I was blessed to hear Bishop Fairley preach last night on the idea of thirsting for God. He told a story from his childhood of running away from his mother’s punishment, running so long and so far until his thirst made him stop. He stopped at the backyard pump of a neighbor to get a drink of cool, well water. And that made me think: what does it feel like to really be thirsty? Do we always recognize our thirst? If we are out running like the young Leonard Fairley, sometimes thirst overwhelms us. But what if we are sitting at a desk, zooming the day away? What if we go into meeting after meeting, driving from place to place? What about when we are called to an emergency and run out the door, sitting with a family in the hospital or taking care of the church facility? We may be thirsty without realizing it. My life is like this. And I can go a long time without recognizing my thirst. I go and go and go. And when I finally get around to bringing a cup to my lips, I begin to gulp the water down. It is only then that I recognize my thirst. I’ve been so intent on what I was doing that I stopped thinking about my body, my needs, my thirst. Thankfully, the body will only go so long without water; I’m forced to stop what I am doing and hydrate.
Our spiritual lives may not have quite the same ability to notify us of thirst. When have we gone too long without sitting with God in prayer? Did we miss an opportunity to be filled with the cool, refreshing grace of God? Turning to God in prayer, we are offered a full cup to sip or gulp, as the need might be. We are offered a time to sit and drink in all God has to offer, to lift our deepest hurts to God, to pray for neighbors at war and in turmoil, to ask God to heal us from hate and the “-isms” of this world. Our thirst is quenched by God’s mercy and grace, reminding us over and over we are God beloved, made in God’s image. Are we running until thirst overtakes us? Or might we be still and know, be still and drink in all God offers?
May this Lent be the time you drink in the living water and simply be.
If you would like to view past editions of Time with Tara, follow this link:
https://harbordistrictnc.org/category/from-the-ds/