Don't
Dam It! Let It Flow!
I
grew up in the high desert of Northwestern New Mexico. The
summers there are hot and dry. In Spring the rains come and
the dry river beds are filled with the sound of cool rushing
water. Delicately beautiful flowers briefly explode into view
across the harsh desert landscape. But the rivers
are soon dry again and the flowers are replaced by cracked and dusty
soil.
This arid region has a long violent history of migrating groups of
people taking the prime watering holes away from one other. I'm not
sure who was there prior to the Anasazi but they spread across the land
and prospered for a few centuries in a civilization that was
technologically comparable to Europe of the time. Then
along came roving warrior tribes, drought, and then Coronado.
Soon the Anasazii were history.
In the late 1800's the most recent group to acquire the land were
settlers and ranchers that built small dams in the dry river beds to
capture some of the spring run-off. The resulting ponds provided water
through the hot summer for their animals and gardens. Of
course this idea was not new to the area. The great Anasazi
civilization built networks of dams and channels in many of the same
canyons for the same reasons thousands of years earlier.
The same fate has befallen the rancher's dams that doomed the
Anasazi's. As the Spring rain rushes down the canyon, debris
and silt is carried along. When the water is trapped the
debris and silt settles out and over time fills the
reservoir. As time passes, the dam becomes clogged and holds
less and less water. Eventually it becomes a dangerous mud hole that
traps thirsty animals. Then finally the Spring floods rush
over the top and washes the dam away.
In the desert water is valued above all else. God wants us to
value Him above all else. As we first come into relationship
with God the sense of forgiveness is like rushing water in the
desert. But we soon build dams that become clogged
with the debris of unforgiveness that muddies the water. We
wonder what happened to the refreshing and find ourselves mired in a
dangerous bog.
Just like the early settlers and ranchers we fiercely defend our
stagnant pools of unforgiveness. Unlike the seasonal rains of
the desert, God has given us rivers of living water that are designed
to flow continually from us. The dams that we have built and
the debris that we have collected seriously impede the flow.
We struggle with forgiveness because it costs us so much pride to give
it. Sometimes we can not find it in ourselves to forgive. But
forgiveness is not ours to withhold. Forgiveness can not be
earned; it is a gift that can only be given and received. We
did not, do not and will never deserve Gods forgiveness. On
our very best day we fall far short of God's
righteousness.
Forgiveness is one aspect of God's gift of grace. Forgiving
others and yourself clears the debris and allows the rivers of living
waters to flow. Freely we have received, freely we should
give.
Without hope, lost in the shadows of despair,
Like the burst of morning aft' a long night,
His radiance brought peace surging through me.
His gift of grace is beyond what I can pay.
Freely He gave, freely I have received.
All God has given I must give away.
The Spirit of Christ within me resides.
Power beyond measure yearning to fly.
But only as I share does He energize.
Neil
