Overflow...

We had friends over yesterday and the kids were using our little pool.  It is amazing just how many devotions you can get from one thing!  HAHAHA- The pool has been a great source teaching me so much about life in general.  While they were playing we realized that a lot of the water had evaporated out and we decided to put the hose in it and fill it up.  For those of you that don’t know – we have one of those inflatable ring Intex pools that as you fill it up – the walls go up and the ring just stays on the surface of the water.  It isn’t a large pool – only 12’ around and 36” deep, but with an almost 2 and a 3 year old it is just the right size for us. 

So we had the hose in filling up the pool so that it would have more water in it and we forgot about the hose!  We had done this once before and the pool overfilled and then it drained the ENTIRE pool since once the water started going, it didn’t stop…  We have actually re-leveled and re-filled this little pool 3 times this year as we have had all sorts of issues with it, so the last thing that we want to do is re-fill it AGAIN since it was just last week we filled it…

My husband goes out and grills the burgers, we are all inside, visiting and eating – we wait for desert- go and look at pictures from a family event that just happened and then decide it is time for desert.  While getting ready to serve desert, I look outside and our pool is SUPER full.  It looks like if you touch it wrong it is going to overflow- AGAIN.  So I drop the utensils I was using into the sink and run out of the house- First I yell to my husband and yell POOL!!!…  He comes racing out thinking that something or someone has gotten into our pool and is drowning.  I grab the hose and we are cracking up by this time, our guests are outside with us and we start taking buckets full of water from the pool and throwing it into the grass surrounding it. 

It is funny how if something has too much going on, too much going into it, too much “water” flowing into it, it might just overflow and then keep going…  Sometimes, it is great to fill something to overflowing.  If that something has hard walls and is a sturdy item, but life isn’t ever sturdy.  Life’s walls aren’t permanent structures- our lives take on the shape of what is going on inside. It might have a basic structure to fill up, but ultimately, if more is going on – life usually can adjust to take it on. 

Life can only take so much though, There are times that so much is going on and so much is being poured into our lives, that we can’t handle it anymore and the water makes its way over the inflatable ring and it starts gushing over.  It starts flowing out of our life freely and you can’t stop it.  You can try to stop it by pulling the ring up, but that is only if you see it before it is completely drained.

There is only so much people can take.  Only so much life can take before we start overflowing.  Like I said before.  Overflowing can be good- but in the case where we overflow to completely deplete all our resources, that is never good.  We need to ensure that we are maintaining our pools/life.  I didn’t realize how much work was involved in such a little thing – there is chlorine, filters, refilling, leveling…  if someone is not maintaining our lives, then we become stagnant (see stagnant water), we overflow and can’t stop. 

God wants to be our pool maintenance person.  He knows how much “water” we can hold.  He knows what to do and how to properly watch and clean our lives so that we don’t become dirty, or green or stagnant, so that we don’t overflow when we are getting re-filled.  I know so many that are filled with so much bad going on in their lives.  They just feel like they can’t take it any more.  For them:  Psalm 34:18 “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

So when you feel like your pool is going to overflow and you aren’t going to be able to stop it – just know that the LORD is close to you.  If you spirit is crushed, God saves those- he will refill you and make you whole again.  He will maintain us and ensure that we will be taken care of- God is so much better at maintaining our lives that I am at maintaining my pool!  We just have to let go and let God.