thingish things

During our recent road trip I had the opportunity to rediscover some old CDs that I hadn't listened to in a while. I was listening to Watermark's self-titled CD, which I have always adored, when a song hit me in a way it never has before:

(For some reason I'm having to push play twice on this song before it will play while I'm previewing it. I'm not sure that will be the case once I've posted it, but I wanted to give you the heads-up so that you don't miss it.)

Verse 1:

Dusty feet, tired from walking

But You have beautiful feet

You walked those roads, and You gave hope to me

Calloused hands, tired from working

But You have beautiful hands

And the wounds therein have given life to me

Chorus:

And I want to know Your beauty

To hold it here in my heart

Oh Lord, of only I could make my road look like Your road

If I could love the way You love

If Your word in my heart was the only thing I used to fill me up

I want to place my feet where the wounded walk

Where you learn to love no matter what the cost I want to go

I want to know how to walk Your road

Verse 2:

A broken heart for the wounded

And Yours is the most beautiful

Looking past our faults, dying to meet our need

Weeping eyes for the sinner

There's nothing more beautiful

And Lord, I want the passion of those tears

Repeat Chorus

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What if His word in our hearts was the only thing we used to fill us up?

What if, when we found ourselves empty, we ran to Him every time?

Last week, with five kids playing outside in hot summer temperatures, I made a lot of lemonade. If one of the kids came in for lemonade and the pitcher was empty, they would bring it to me and ask me to refill it. Then they would stay next to me and wait until the pitcher was once again full, and they could get a drink and get back to the important work of getting their feet dirty.

When our own "pitchers" are empty, where do we go for a refill? Do we pick up the phone to search for a listening ear to commiserate? Do we pick up the remote for a little down time? Or do we sit at the feet of the One that can refill the pitcher, so that we can get back out and get our feet dirty?

You see in the long run, it's not the pitcher that matters.

The kids didn't care that our pitcher was plastic. Or that we bought it at Big Lots. Or that it had cracked, and Jonathan had glued the outside of the crack so that it wouldn't leak. (Although they thought that was pretty cool!) They just knew that it held what they needed.

I know that when people look at me, they know that I'm not perfect. They're going to see my cracks. But my prayer is that they're going to look at me and see what I'm filled with, and that I'll be able to point them to the One that will give them the strength to also walk His road.