dry up and blow away

But now, after you have known God, or rather, are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? You observe days and months and seasons and years.

Galatians 4:9 & 10

wow.

Do I really do this? um….yes.

How many times have I been lazy or sleepy and just skipped my Bible reading?

How many times have I gotten “too busy for God” in the mornings at my desk and wound up mid-day realizing that ooops! I never got to my Bible verse for the day.

How often have Martin and I driven in to work and spent the entire time discussing the issues of the day instead of allowing God to speak to us?

Without God’s word to water my soul I can get pretty desiccated.

In biology and ecology, desiccation refers to the drying out of a living organism, such as when aquatic animals are taken out of water, or when plants are exposed to sunlight or drought.

Think of a dried fruit. Raisins, or figs, or even apricots. Now think of the difference in the weight of a piece of fresh cut apple and the same piece if it was dried completely out.

The dried piece has no heft, it can be blown about easily.

The same thing happens to me, as a living organism. Or rather, to my soul. If I’m not filled with the spirit my mood is not stable. There is no resiliency. I’m dried out and can get blown about by changing circumstances far too easily.

The good news here is that my soul can be “plumped back up” by soaking in the word of God. The same way I plump up raisins, apples and figs in fortified wine or spirits before putting them in a cake or a bread.

It not only restores their heft, it adds flavor. The taste of the apple is not gone, but the taste of the wine is there too.

Refresh my spirit LORD, restore the heft to my soul. Ground me in a good soaking of YOU, that I may have savor and bring a flavor of YOU to those around me.