Drips, Drops and Overflow

When the bucket is empty, I can’t make it rain. When there are no lyrics, I can’t sing the song. When there is no food on the table, I can’t invite the neighbors over for a feast.

I am incredibly predictable as I am awakened each morning. After feeding the dog and letting her out for… well, you get it… I begin my prayer ritual of making coffee and having sliced banana on toast. I bless you God for sustenance, and for the farmers who grew and harvested the coffee beans, I can now drink a couple mugs of giddy up. I bless you God for the banana, which once sustained me in my days of living on pennies, this is my constant reminder of how You are forever faithful in providing.

I then slink downstairs into my cave like office, and begin some breath prayer… inhale with Yehhhhh, and exhale with Wehhhhh (aka YHWH prayer). Now sit in silence, create some space to allow the monkey mind to chatter, until there is recognition that it’s actually time to be quiet and simply listen. Next, there is some meditative reading, a little from the Hebrew Scriptures and then a walk with some New Testament writings. Now I can open a grid or blank paged journal for sketching out that which is swirling and dancing within. I can’t do ruled journals, they are just too rigid for me. 😬

Medium point pens out, black ink for titles, red ink for quotes and Scripture, and blue ink for my thoughts and questions. The wet ink on those pages often becomes the wet ink on this site. The smell and touch of paper, the grip of the pen and bleeding ink onto the paper, these are just the right amount of messy for mirroring my stumbling soul.

This is the fueling station for me, the Divine dojo for instructing me on how to do the work ahead.

If the work comes first, if I skip over or try and rush through the filling station, then the dry, emptiness within me will soon become cracks in the foundation.

Drips and drops will never sustain, I need to live from an overflow. I do not have the talent, skill, or moxie to take a drop and make it a drenching.

My current schedule has led me to awaken earlier in order to walk to that well, and it is not a sustainable journey. Friends, the work may suffer and maybe we accomplish less (what????), but the soul needs overflow.

The family and neighbors and community need overflow, not drips and drops at the bottom of the container. Those lead to dents from being an empty can, good for kicking but not for drinking out of.

We’re always learning ourselves, and we’re endlessly discovering and tweaking sustainable rhythms for the adventure that is this one life. Don’t rush the filling. Say no. Yes, I said no. It’s crazy hard, but I’ll take that tension over drips and drops.