Be a Spring

No, I’m not alluding to the kind deftly crammed inside your mattress. Nor the ones keeping your driving experience mostly pleasurable.

By the title, you may not believe this.
But the majority of my thinking the past couple of days has been about giving.

Recently, I seen a social media post stating that we shouldn’t give too much.

This is true. We should save some of what we have for ourselves.
If you give away every dollar in your bank account (or accounts for some people)…then you would have a problem.
Bills come due. If you don’t have any money in the accounts when the bills make an appearance, that simply isn’t good. Especially if you have a wife and children who depend on you.

If the cell phone company has deemed you too special and precious to allow you to send them any sort of payment after using their services, kudos.
Stay with that company, tell me who they are and tell them I’m with you.
If your city allows you to use the electricity and refuse service without any monthly payment…what a blessing!

However, most of us have to pay some kind of a bill each month. We are not exempt from that.
So you can’t give all your money away. You have to keep some of it back to pay for gas, clothing, shelter, etc.

Granted, there are some things we have to keep back. But it is important to give.

There are more ways to give than monetarily.

Money may be limited.
But Joy doesn’t have to be.
Kindness doesn’t have to be.

What I’ve found out is if I give out joy and peace and kindness, then it will be provided to me again. And in more abundance.

We have several springs in our region of Southern Missouri. They feed the rivers. The rivers will usually both flow out of a spring and flow by a spring.

The Springs are always in output mode.
The water naturally flows from it.
Because that’s what a Spring does.
That’s “who” it is by nature.

The only other thing a spring can be is dried up. If it stopped flowing, then it would no longer be a spring, it would be a stagnant pond.

And springs are always input mode as well.
What if that spring stopped getting? What if it shut itself off from its source?
It would stop giving. The only way it can keep giving day after day and year after year is to constantly keep itself open to the source.
And by keeping itself open to the source, it can consistently keep providing to the rivers.

Because of a constant replenishing, the springs in our area keep flowing. They keep supplying.
The springs give shelter. They sustain those who yield to their chilly, yet comforting, embrace.

The water flow comes from somewhere deep down where we can’t see. It flows from the heart of the earth.

It’s always cool, clear and refreshing.

On a hot summer day, when the heat is unbearable, there’s a river nearby where we can immerse our bodies and be refreshed.

A few years ago, there was a feeble attempt by some local scoundrels to dam up one of the springs. But something profound happened. No, something natural happened.
The spring rose up past the dam and became more full. Then it flowed over the obstacle.
The spring didn’t dry up. The spring didn’t give up. The spring didn’t stay a little pool of water.
It grew. It became deeper. It kept flowing. It kept giving.

What can you give away today?
Well, the better question is “what are you getting today?”

No offense, but people don’t want to receive more anxiety.
Frustration? Thanks, we’ve got plenty.
Hurt? We’re good.

Don’t have any money to give?
That’s okay. I’m right there with ya.

How about healing? Got any of that?
We could use a big ole dollop of joy.
Got any good news?

How about this…Show (or flow) kindness.
Have a kind word to speak.
Be gentle.
Reach out with a gentle touch.
Give someone a smile. Whether you’ve got pearly whites or not.

Be a spring. Allow love and joy and peace to spring up inside your heart and flow out to others around you.

Don’t agree with them politically, spiritually or any other number of ways?
How do you know that and why did you bring it up?

In a world full of hate, where it can sometimes be unbearable, where the kindness thermostat is reading a little hotter than the devil’s armpit…
Be a spring of love and joy where others can immerse themselves in your presence and be refreshed.

to those whose flow is a little slow, (me especially)
– Caleb