Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Let’s take a moment to whine about the weather. It’s dreary, always windy, bitter cold. Our vitamin D levels are down and we can feel it. Sometimes we hear, “well, if you’re dressed right, you can enjoy the outdoors in any weather.” Right. Unless you live here.
We can find a lot to whine about these days. And they are real complaints. Life is difficult, we’re polarized, we’re busy, we’re distracted.
All the whining reminds me of a familiar story about Jesus: The Wedding at Cana, a.k.a. when Jesus turns water into wine.
We want THAT kind of wine: wise with age, multilayered, passionate, bringing out the flavor of life. How can we transform our whining: our complaining, our curved-inward near-sightedness into wine: outward-looking, fermenting, flavorful life?
At the wedding, the hosts complained about being out of wine. All they had left was water.
“Do whatever he tells you,” Mary says to the servants. And Jesus tells them, “Fill the jars with water.”
(John 2)
Notice that Jesus doesn’t tell the people to go turn water into wine. He does that work. He does the miracle of transformation. The people don’t need to.
But what do they need to do? They fill the jugs with what they have. Jesus uses exactly what we have, whatever it is we bring. Whatever it is we can muster—Jesus can use that to transform our whining into abundance.
Carrying water, giving God what we have is not always easy. It feels heavy and even a little shameful, because it never feels like enough. It’s an act of faith just to open our hearts.
Carrying water can look like the simple acts of faith: praying for our neighbor, being kind, compassionate, forgiving. Carrying water can look like resting, or giving up multitasking, or creating space for family time. Carrying water can look like simply putting one foot in front of the other.
Let’s carry our water, support others in carrying their water, and trust in Jesus’ work to do the miracle, to transform our lives into abundance, vitality, and real change…wherever God sees that need. Amen.
