When I moved from Athens in the fall of 2007, the state of Georgia was experiencing a severe drought. Everyone was drastically changing their lifestyles from not showering to "If it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown, put it down." I remember leaving restaurants and finishing my drinks completely, because I felt like I was wasting water if I let the ice sit there. Seriously. I remember considering water that precious.
Droughts, unlike floods, don't happen suddenly. There's not a flash drought. The paraphrased definition of a drought is a "prolonged or extended season of dry conditions, causing adverse effects on crops or living conditions." In other words, droughts happen over a long period of time and as they wear on, they cause greater damage. Lake Lanier, the lake that supplies large amounts of water to the Atlanta area, had drastic changes in it's water level. These levels could easily be seen from an airplane.
There was one bright side to this problem, however. As the water level in Lake Lanier recedes, decades of trash were exposed. Cars, motorcycles, beer cans from the 1930's, all were now on the surface. Though the water level receded, it created the perfect opportunity to clean the trash out of the lake. People didn't have to search for it. They didn't have to swim or dive to it. No heavy machinery necessary. The trash was obvious, apparent, and made the lake look completely awful. There really wasn't much of a choice except to clean the lake. People couldn't stand looking at it.
This is exactly how I've felt the last few months. Work has been very challenging and frustrating. Personal life has experienced some set backs. My faith has been tested. I've been in such a drought. Instead of contributing and doing anything productive, I've only been letting anything good and valuable dry up inside me. I've created so many of adverse effects on the things I'm supposed to affect positively - the things I'm supposed to give life to. And as that drought prolonged, more and more trash and garbage about myself has been revealed that's been buried for years, and I've had no choice but to look straight at it and say "I can keep it there, or get rid of it."
I suppose that the months of rainfall I had in my life covered up all the trash that I had. I can only pray that as I remove this trash from my life, that the rains will come again and I can once again be filled (but clean).
3 comments:
I enjoyed reading this Michael. :) I hope the good Lord gives you the strength to replenish your waters. :) I know He will! :) l
Michael, that was an amazing! A powerful insight articulated beautifully.
Michael, I am praying that your trip to West will help to restore you to where you want to be in your life. Most of us could take a long hard look at our life and discover there is more garbage there than we realized. We are all guilty of trying to hide those things but we can't hide them from our Lord. He does forgive though and unlike mankind He ... Read Moreleaves them as far as the east is from the west. His forgiveness is perfect and He wants us to accept that and walk forward hand in hand with HIM> Love u and miss u
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