{"id":440,"date":"2012-11-09T16:30:38","date_gmt":"2012-11-09T20:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/katie-moore\/?p=440"},"modified":"2012-11-09T16:30:38","modified_gmt":"2012-11-09T20:30:38","slug":"the-source","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/katie-moore\/2012\/11\/09\/the-source\/","title":{"rendered":"The Source"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rainy season is over now and water has become a precious commodity again. A few weeks ago I was filling a bucket from the holding tank that catches rain from our roof. While I was waiting for the container to fill, my language helper came to the fence. “I’ll be right back to turn off the hose,” I thought to myself. My helper had come to study, so we went inside and did some recordings. Then her kids watched a movie while I chatted with their mom. Then she left and I worked out. Then I showered. Then I went to my co-worker’s house for dinner. Then we had a prayer meeting. Then…I remembered the hose.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Pete and Rachel working with our water tank in the background<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I ran to the house with my flashlight and saw that the holding tank was empty. I had spilled 1200 liters of precious rain water all over the dry ground. Although the rest of the team was very gracious about it, offering to help me go get more to fill it, I was angry. I was disproportionately angry. I stood in the dark next to the tank and cried.\u00a0 In my heart I said, \u201cThis is how I feel, Lord\u2026empty.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next night I lay on my cot and a similar experience from my childhood came to mind.\u00a0 I had put the hose in the washing machine to help it fill more quickly and then had gone to talk to a friend outside.\u00a0 I got distracted with this and that and when I came back a few hours later, a river of water was running down the hill by our home.\u00a0 How did I react then?\u00a0 I simply went inside, was thankful the water ran out the door instead of flooding the room, and turned off the hose.<\/p>\n

So what made the difference?\u00a0 The hose in my childhood story was hooked up to a pump that ran down to the river.\u00a0 You could run that thing all day long for weeks and never think twice about the source drying up.\u00a0 Our holding tank, on the other hand, had the last bit of rain for the year.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
When it doesn't rain, we have to drive the truck to a water source and fill barrels<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I realized that my attitude towards the water was being echoed in my interactions with the village people.\u00a0 I\u2019ve only got so much patience, I would reason, and then that\u2019s it.\u00a0 The next person who comes to the fence is going to get the real me\u2026the irritable, tired, real me.\u00a0 I can only be generous one more time today, and then I\u2019m done.\u00a0 I\u2019m about running on empty.<\/p>\n

As I was contemplating those things, the Holy Spirit spoke to me. \u201cThis attitude comes from you not understanding the nature of your source.\u00a0 You only have a limit when the strength is coming from yourself.\u00a0 If you really knew that your source was like an endless river, you would respond differently.\u201d<\/p>\n

God\u2019s patience, his generosity, his love, his grace are limitless.\u00a0 When we remember we are connected to him, we draw on limitless resources.\u00a0 We are not stingy with others because we know what we have to give will never run out.\u00a0 We open up the hose and let it run, with joy, over the dry and weary land where there is no water.\u00a0 We don\u2019t worry about it drying up, being wasted, or running out.\u00a0 And with the measure we give, it\u2019s returned to us, overflowing, spilling out, and pouring over.<\/p>\n

So, what actually happened after everything with the water in the tribe?\u00a0 It rained. In two days, the tank was full again.\u00a0 Even though the time for rain was over, God refilled and renewed and reminded me that every good thing has its source in Him.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rainy season is over now and water has become a precious commodity again. A few weeks ago I was filling a bucket from the holding tank that catches rain from our roof. While I was waiting for the container to fill, my language helper came to the fence. “I’ll be right back to turn off […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":331,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6402],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-my-reflections","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/katie-moore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/katie-moore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/katie-moore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/katie-moore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/331"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/katie-moore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/katie-moore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/katie-moore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/katie-moore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/katie-moore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}