Water Bottles, Habits, and Thirsting After God
A friend of mine recently made a spiritual observation and used one of my personal habits to illustrate it. I thought it was interesting, so I'm going to elaborate on it.
You see, in the last couple years of my life I've had a Nalgene water bottle that I keep with me almost all the time. I try not to let it get empty; when it gets three-quarters or more empty, I'll put more water in it. After all, an empty water bottle is really no use at all. What's more, whenever I get thirsty I want my water bottle to be close at hand, with water in it. This is my way to ensure the greatest likelihood of actually following through, meeting my need and desire for water. This also ensures that with water available, I'm less inclined to attempt to satisfy my thirst with more appealing but less fulfilling alternatives. I frequently refuse soda and coffee, even when others encourage me to drink them.
Even better, I don't just drink water when I'm thirsty -- I drink it all the time, because it's good for me and because it's always accessible. In short, it's a habit. I'm not sure how much water I drink per day on average, and it doesn't really matter. I may drink about one full water bottle (just over one liter) in a day, or perhaps two or three. But I don't have a quota or minimum amount, because physical need varies and I don't want to be motivated by a rule. It is a better policy to simply know that I must heed my body's thirst. And the first prerequisite for meeting a need is the availability of whatever is needed. If what is needed is more available, then I won't need much motivation to meet that need. (This is evidenced by the effect a plethora of conveniences available to us in our everyday lives has on our decision-making process.) Having a water bottle and drinking water is a part of my life now. I can't imagine doing without it. Even on the rare occasions when I don't have it with me, I go to find a drink and rue that I left it behind.
If you're still reading, you're probably seeing the comparison between this and our spiritual need. Jesus says to the Samaritan woman whom he asked for a drink, "Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life" (John 4:14). And David says, "O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you , my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water" (Psalm 63:1).
The question for us is not whether we have a need for God -- rather it is whether we recognize the need and what we are doing to fill it. Do we just go to God when the circumstances of our lives dictate that we need Him? Do we make a practice of "filling up" on God once a week or once a day, pretending that it's enough while maintaining our mundane and lethargic spiritual lives? Do we fill up on other things that are not as pure and necessary, more appealing and less fulfilling, the sodas and the coffees of the world and of the religious institutions that tantalize in taste but ultimately blind us to what we really need?
Or do we make God so available, and knowing Him so readily attainable that we get lots of Him without even realizing it, that we reach for Him when we don't feel like we need Him, that we make time with Him a habit rather than something we have to constantly remind ourselves to do?
To put it succinctly, do you have a water bottle, and how close is it to you right now?
You see, in the last couple years of my life I've had a Nalgene water bottle that I keep with me almost all the time. I try not to let it get empty; when it gets three-quarters or more empty, I'll put more water in it. After all, an empty water bottle is really no use at all. What's more, whenever I get thirsty I want my water bottle to be close at hand, with water in it. This is my way to ensure the greatest likelihood of actually following through, meeting my need and desire for water. This also ensures that with water available, I'm less inclined to attempt to satisfy my thirst with more appealing but less fulfilling alternatives. I frequently refuse soda and coffee, even when others encourage me to drink them.
Even better, I don't just drink water when I'm thirsty -- I drink it all the time, because it's good for me and because it's always accessible. In short, it's a habit. I'm not sure how much water I drink per day on average, and it doesn't really matter. I may drink about one full water bottle (just over one liter) in a day, or perhaps two or three. But I don't have a quota or minimum amount, because physical need varies and I don't want to be motivated by a rule. It is a better policy to simply know that I must heed my body's thirst. And the first prerequisite for meeting a need is the availability of whatever is needed. If what is needed is more available, then I won't need much motivation to meet that need. (This is evidenced by the effect a plethora of conveniences available to us in our everyday lives has on our decision-making process.) Having a water bottle and drinking water is a part of my life now. I can't imagine doing without it. Even on the rare occasions when I don't have it with me, I go to find a drink and rue that I left it behind.
If you're still reading, you're probably seeing the comparison between this and our spiritual need. Jesus says to the Samaritan woman whom he asked for a drink, "Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life" (John 4:14). And David says, "O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you , my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water" (Psalm 63:1).
The question for us is not whether we have a need for God -- rather it is whether we recognize the need and what we are doing to fill it. Do we just go to God when the circumstances of our lives dictate that we need Him? Do we make a practice of "filling up" on God once a week or once a day, pretending that it's enough while maintaining our mundane and lethargic spiritual lives? Do we fill up on other things that are not as pure and necessary, more appealing and less fulfilling, the sodas and the coffees of the world and of the religious institutions that tantalize in taste but ultimately blind us to what we really need?
Or do we make God so available, and knowing Him so readily attainable that we get lots of Him without even realizing it, that we reach for Him when we don't feel like we need Him, that we make time with Him a habit rather than something we have to constantly remind ourselves to do?
To put it succinctly, do you have a water bottle, and how close is it to you right now?
posted by Luke at 10:00 PM
2 Comments:
should we think of going to god as a habit or should we want to go to him....
I like it its a good thought.
Yes. I mean, both. It's not a mindless habit...but one where desire is involved. Take eating as an example...eating is a habit, but just because it's a habit doesn't mean that we don't want to eat. Quite the opposite, usually. What happens when we don't eat? Our bodies tell us we need to...and then we want to. I think we should go through the same healthy process spiritually...need, leads to desire, resulting in action.
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