The guy checked things out and told me I had no water pressure to the meter, which meant that there was some blockage between the water main and the meter. Then he told me he would place a work order to get someone else out to run a new pipe from the water main to my meter.

After the work was done, I had tremendous water pressure. I no longer had to wait till late at night, when everyone was gone to bed, to take a shower. They can flush, they can run the dishwasher, and they can put in a load of wash. I couldn’t care less because no matter what anyone in my house does, there’s still ample water for a shower. What a spectacular improvement that has been in my life! And it didn’t cost me a penny.

I think a lot of people have mistakenly assumed that in order to make a significant change in their spiritual lives, they have to do something huge. They have to go to a big church meeting, or maybe they have to make a big commitment to Christian service, or maybe they have to make a big contribution. There’s nothing wrong with any of that. However, there are times when spiritual change can be easy and inexpensive, like upgrading the plumbing to the water main was for me. I was ignorant. I had no idea that anything could be done about the problem. I lived in water pressure purgatory for over two year because I simply didn’t know that anything could be done about it. The utility guy set me straight.

What can we do to improve the flow in our spiritual lives? Avoiding the seven deadly sins might be a good start. Adhering to the Ten Commandments to the best of your ability would also be a good idea. But what else can we do? One thing that has made a difference in my life, when I’ve done it, is to simply get on my knees – a position of humility – to pray early in the day. And sometimes, instead of listening to talk radio while I’m driving, I’ll pop in a tape of the Psalms or something similar. Sometimes little changes like those can make a big difference. Asking Holy God for His direction can also be very helpful.

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Dear God, please show me what I need to do to maximize the flow of your love, your grace, your strength, and your mercy into me and through me so that I might become what you created me to be and so that I might do all that you created me to do. Amen.

Those phrases comfort us, empower us, and help us to believe that we can call all the shots in our lives. But it’s not true. If it were, we’d never have to look inside the bag we pickup at the drive-through window. Still, the mantras have been repeated often enough for many people to believe them.

Paul wrote something that sounds very similar in Philippians 4. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Unfortunately, this is probably one of the most misappropriated scriptures of all. Christians have used it to rationalize all kinds of things.

However, in the preceding verse, Paul wrote, “I know how to be abased and how to abound.” That bit about being abased doesn’t get quoted very much, and it gets explained even less. To be abased is to be humiliated or degraded.

When Paul wrote about doing all things, he wasn’t talking about doing whatever passed through his head. Paul was talking about handling whatever his life and ministry brought his way. The NIV reads “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”

Through Christ who strengthens us, we should be able to handle our lives as well as Paul.
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Lord, please teach me to maintain my relationship with you in all circumstances, whether I’m abounding or being abased, whether I’m well-fed or hungry, whether things are going well or not.

I recently swam in Silver Glen Springs, one of Florida’s fountains of youth, deep in the heart of the Ocala National Forest. Swimming in one of Florida’s springs is one of my favorite things to do, especially when there aren’t very many people around. It’s cleansing, refreshing, and, yes, rejuvenating. I actually do come out feeling younger, looser, cleaner. It is a baptism of sorts. Between the swim and the idea of being a blessing, I feel like I’ve been baptized into a new way of thinking, perhaps even a new way of living.

When the door opens, she is gone, almost instantly, to the back fence to see what might be there. Most of the time there isn’t anything to chase. Still, she knows that every time the door opens, there just might be. When she comes back in the house, she always checks the front door, just in case someone might have left it open so she could go for an exhilarating run off the leash. She would never pass up an opportunity to do that.

Is some fantastic opportunity going to present itself to me every time I go out my front door? Probably not. However, if I go through the day thinking something great might be just around the corner, which is similar to the way Sparky – who, by the way, is actually an idiot – thinks, I’m going to be much more ready when an opportunity arises than I would be just moping through the day.