Broken Cisterns

Here we are at the end of another blessed week...this is not exactly how I was hoping December would be. It has been far too full of school and not nearly enough of things I want to be doing...like painting, reading, playing guitar, making snowflakes, writing, loving on people, and talking to Jesus. (and everything on that list we made in the last post.) But really, that's not even the problem.

The problem is, I expect these things to give me life. And they do. To a point. I expect people to give me life. Yet, I sometimes leave even an incredibly fun night feeling let down. There are INCREDIBLE people in my life, but for me to expect them to satisfy my soul's deepest thirst is wrong. I like feeling approved of. Wanted. Challenged. Loved. None of these are illegitimate desires; if we didn't have them, we would cease to be human.

I think of the words of Jeremiah:

"My people have committed two sins:
They have forsaken me,
the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns,
broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

My problem is that I keep running to broken cisterns. Even the very best things in my life cannot hold life-giving water. Not the way my Father in heaven can.

The good news is Christmas is a celebration of the Living Water now available to the world. The God who breathed life into Adam came and walked among us. Jesus came to bring life in abundance. In Him, there is water that will quench our deepest thirsts. And this is worth all the parties in the world.

In Christ, I am whole. I am complete. I am ALIVE.

Drink up, my friends.

Tis the season...

Hello, world.

Thanksgiving is over, and it's full speed ahead to Christmas. I love Christmas, but for some reason I'm not feeling it this year. The lights, the hustle and bustle, the red and green, the minty Starbucks drinks, even the music...it all feels so shallow. I don't want mere holiday cheer this year. I want to find Jesus in the middle of all this.

It's occurred to me lately, that of all the Persons of the Trinity, I am least acquainted with Jesus. I know the Father as my Creator and Sustainer, and the Spirit as my Strength, Comfort, and Source of joy, but I still have this picture of Jesus not much different than one of those felt-board figures. Kind of one-dimensional and cartoon-y with that goofy beard (as if He was blonde and blue-eyed, anyway). I'll blame all those Bible story videos we watched growing up. He just does not seem like someone with whom I could sit down to coffee and discuss the world and theology and love and things that matter. Yet He really was. And is. And my perception is beginning to change.

In fact, Jesus was hungry. And thirsty. And tired. He needed time away. He had to deal with parents. And siblings. And learning a trade. And waiting on the Father's timing. He was let down by people. Even His best friends. And He hurt deep down in his heart. Jesus was fully human.

Yet, He was and is so much more. He is insanely intelligent. He knows all the mysteries of our world and of our human condition. He felt deeply compassionate towards people. He reached out to the outcasts of society. He knew God the Father intimately and invites us into this relationship of joyful gift-giving. He invites us to find real, deep, spiritual life. In self-denial. In service. In death.

There's a reason we take communion. To remember his death on the cross, to be sure. But I can't help but think that Jesus wants us to share in His redeemed humanity, the literal substance of His being. In living life as it was meant to be lived.

This Christmas, I want to find this life. I want to know this Man. Preferably over peppermint white chocolate mochas. Hold the whipped cream, of course.