I built this pretty pond. There are pretty chairs arranged in groups to encourage conversation. There are lovely flowers and greenery for people to enjoy. The whole was created to make people comfortable. The pond is covered in lily pads and pretty imported dragonflies flit from pad to pad.
I invited people to come to my pond. Those people look a lot like me. We have the same values, similar upbringings, and agree on most issues. We had lots of great fun at the pond. We talked, we shared. Life at the pond was enjoyable and agreeable.
There was something about the pond that was just not right. At first most people didn’t notice it because everything around the pond was so pretty, but if you stayed long enough and looked close enough you could tell —
the pond was stagnant. The water was stale and unmoving.
The pretty pond is the story of my life in ministry. For so long, I had all the ‘stuff’ to make me look good. The pretty stuff; the stuff that looked like everyone else’s pretty stuff. I made people comfortable and complacent – because I was comfortable and complacent. I was stagnant and stale.
God called me out of that place – well, He’d long been calling, I just wasn’t listening. I liked it there at the pretty pond with the people who didn’t challenge me to go beyond complacent into the adventure of a life fully submitted to Christ.
I’m still a work in progress and I’ll slip back into that stale pond from time to time, but once you’ve experienced a life with Christ in the deep, rushing, refreshing, living water, a stale pond just won’t do it for you.
Christ called His disciples to follow Him and He would make them fishers of men (Luke 5), He didn’t call them to build a pond and wait for people to show up.
Are we building ponds and waiting? I was.
Are you?
Hi Mary
Thank you for the post I felt like that a couple of months ago just felt like I was stuck thought I was doing the right things by going to church and worshipping but for some reason I was not happy just hit a funk in my life , I kept asking God am I not doing the right things to follow after You? Well apparently I wasn’t because my moods were not good and I was pretty miserable , I felt God talking to me during that time I want your time Carol want your quiet time so I decided to challenge a friend of mine or for us to hold each other accountable starting last week well I called her on that Monday evening and she just said I don’t have time so I said okay , but I am still having my quiet time with myself and God and I wouldn’t trade that quiet time for nothing, but anything can happen but I am asking God to keep me faithful to Him.sorry this is so long. Just wanted to share with you. Thank you Mary you bless me and cannot wait to meet you.
Carol
I did have my pond. Then the storms of life and relationships came and the pond was destroyed. I felt lost.
I’m realizing more and more the necessity of stepping into the wild and unpredictable and messy river of His life. It takes courage and determination.
Thanks for today’s reminder, Mary.
Elaine
This post screams of what God has been doing lately…calling me out of the nice prettiness I have donned for so long and get messy. Get dirty. Because when He does a clean up in my life, I have noticed it’s a lot like how I clean…it looks like a bomb went off in the room that I am cleaning in just to put it all back together how it needs to be. God does this with me, too, at times…because this is the only way He is able to get rid of the junk that infiltrated my room…the very spirit He created for Him to indwell. and mercy…this summer has been on BIG bomb in my room, and there has been some major cleaning going on. Now, some things are starting to come back into order…and I am keeping only what He needs me to keep. Some things I hate letting go of…it ia nice to hang onto what comforts us. But things can never provide such comfort like God’s ever-loving relationship with us.
Thank you for this post, Mary! It’s deeply refreshing to me…reminding me I am just where He needs me to be; moving in the direction He needs me to be moving in.