A Lock-in and Spiritual Malnutrition

I have survived one of the hardest things of an adult's life- a youth lock-in.  The youth were great!  We played games and challenged their skills late into the night, but I realized there is a big difference between me as a teenager and me as an adult.  By ten o'clock at night, I started to crash.  The only problem is that the teenagers were just getting their first wind.  I even caught some chugging an energy drink which was totally not fair!  I managed to keep going until one in the morning but had to admit defeat and sleep.  I disappeared into my husband's church office furnished with a love seat to sleep a little.  Little was the key word.  The only way I could fit was in the fetal position or with my legs over the very high arms and half-way over my head.  Once I could no longer feel my legs, I determined that I would need to change strategies.  I moved the cushions to the floor and slept half on and half off the cushion.  By morning, I could hardly move.  The youth were worse than me.  They had decided that staying up all night was a good idea.  By morning, I had decided it was a very bad idea.  With moans, cranky glances, and mumbles of tiredness, I sent them home.  This made me realize how important it is to take care of ourselves.  When you don't get enough sleep, it affects your emotions, your relationships, and your health.  Your body slowly breaks down from lack of care.  This is also true of our spiritual lives.  When we don't take care of our spiritual lives, we slowly break down.  In the picture above, you can see my beautiful flowers in front of my house .  The one on the front looks amazing and is growing wonderfully.  The back one doesn't look as healthy.  They are both from the same store.  They are planted in the same planter and are getting the same sunlight.  So what has caused the back one not to grow?  It is the amount of nourishment one gets.  When it rains, the front ones are directly under the edge of my roof, so when water pours down, it waters the front plants.  The one on the side looks good because the roof pours off in that spot.  The only one that does not get a direct watering from the roof is the one in back.  This is what we look like spiritually when we allow God to nourish us in His Word or His presence.  It is great to minister to others, but if you are constantly pouring out, but never taking time for yourself in God's presence, you dry up spiritually.  And, like the sleep-deprived teenagers, we end up cranky and attacking those we really want to help.  Have you noticed that within the church, you may see one person who is spiritually healthy and vibrant, while others are angry, bitter, dried up, and complacent.  They both are planted in the same church.  They both are fed the same sermons and prayed for by the same people.  The difference is how they nourish themselves outside of church.  The ones with non-existent prayers lives and no time with God are spiritually starving themselves.  This affects how they interact with others and how they look at the world.  It's the equivalent of being hangry (angry when you get hungry).  Tonight, I had a conversation with a six-year-old.  He had one of the most profound takes on our spiritual lives.  He asked, "How can I make God bigger?"  I told him that when we pray, God doesn't get bigger, but our problems appear smaller, and this makes God appear bigger.  He then stated, "So when I don't pray, God gets smaller and smaller, but when I talk to God, He gets bigger and bigger."  Why can't we all see things with that simplicity?  When we take time for God, spiritual malnutrition will not occur because we have fully nourished ourselves.   God becomes bigger in our lives.  And when God is bigger, He can't help but pour out of our lives.

Have a great week high-heeled warriors!