A real danger for those of us who see ourselves as doing God’s work is that we get so caught up in our ministries that we fail to recall and be with the very source of our life, God.
The twelfth century mystic, Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, understood this dilemma. “If you are wise,” Bernard wrote, “you will show yourself a reservoir and not a channel. For a channel pours out as fast as it takes in; but a reservoir waits until it is full before it overflows. And so, communicates its surplus . . . We have all too few such reservoirs in the Church at present, though we have channels in plenty.”
So here you are, just as activities pick up speed in September. How can you deepen your faith life and yet accomplish all that needs to be done? What faith disciplines can you engage in order to refocus your energies on the redeeming and reconciling love of God in Jesus Christ and realign your relationship with God?
This message is excerpted from “Filling your reservoir” by Linda Post Bushkofsky from the September 19, 2013, blog of the Women of the ELCA.
Copyright © 2024 Women of the ELCA. Inquiries for permission to reproduce should be directed to [email protected].