A friend recently shared with me how angry she was with her husband. He was looking forward to having several days off work, and instead of sitting down to discuss his plans for the upcoming days, he didn’t bother to include her in the plan-making. She had been looking forward to a date-night out. She eagerly anticipated a nice dinner and time with the one she loved. He did take her out to dinner, but because he had not communicated with her, it wasn’t where she had hoped to go. To make matters worse, he wanted to get back home in time to watch the Grizzlies play basketball. I’m not hating on the Grizzlies because we love basketball at our house, but she felt like a second-hand priority. The coup de grace was when he told her, “I have several golf games planned. I emailed you my schedule.” Whaaaat?
He had actually emailed her his golf schedule! Like she was some unknown business associate! No face-to-face communication. A cold email with dates and times of HIS plans. No input from her. I hardly blame her for being upset. They are not some young newlyweds- they have been married 23 years, which is plenty long enough for him to learn a little about communication. After she made her disappointment known, I believe he learned a little more about the needs of women.
Are you emailing God? Is your prayer time a little box you check off that you have completed your responsibility for the day? Is your time with God something you squeeze in so that you can rush off to some other form of recreation that you enjoy more? Are you consulting Him with your plans, or are you doing what you prefer to do? Are you even communicating with Him at all? Do you really want to spend time with Him?
David wrote in Psalm 63:1, “You, God are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.” Most of us have never experienced this kind of thirst. We have an abundance of clean water and access to it. But this kind of thirst consumes the whole body. It’s not just a dry mouth- every organ in the body longs for that hydration. I want to have this type of thirst for God. Some days I do. But there are days when I lose my focus, and I quench my thirst with other things that don’t refresh my soul in the same way. Like drinking salt water that will only make me more thirsty, I fill my life with useless things that don’t refresh my soul.
How hydrated is your soul? It all goes back to that communication…that CONNECTION with God. When we thirst for Him, he is the top priority. When He is my chief desire, I will choose Him over a basketball game or golf. Not that I can’t enjoy those things. But I make it clear which one I value more. What are you giving your soul to drink? Can you say, “Lord, earnestly I seek you”?
“Lord, I crawled across the barren desert to you with my empty cup, uncertain, but asking for any small drop of refreshment. If only I had known you better, I’d have come running with a bucket.”( -Nancy Spiegelberg) Don’t email God. Hold up your cup to Him. Or come running with a bucket.