When my soul is thirsty.

These past several years have been the first since kindergarten that I have not been in a formal school setting. I realized how much I enjoyed the structure of a school system after it's season had passed. For me, this transition to full time work & having the crutch of college removed was not as seamless as I had envisioned. In light of this I acquired several hobbies in hopes of keeping myself free from an intellectual crisis. One of these hobbies was photography.

To say that I am a novice photographer would be generous. This I am learning as most of my pictures turn out too blurred, too bright or in the missed opportunities of shooting a smile or burst of laughter from leaving my lens cap on. This art is something, like most worthwhile things, which is difficult at first. Yet ever once in a thousand pictures I capture something that leaves me thankful. Sometimes I take a picture, seemingly by accident, that leaves me in awe. I hardly feel responsible for taking the picture at all. It was as if my soul was thirsty & from the picture it drew water to drink. There are other senses & mediums that do this for me as well; music, art, literature... All leaving me wildly thankful or peaceful or full of praise.

As I have done before I will steal an illustration from C.S. Lewis to help explain what I am getting at. In his autobiography Lewis uses the scent of a flower to illustrate the joy that God offers us. Joy is but the scent of the flower but what our heart really desires is to find the flower itself. While Lewis spent a large portion of his life in pursuit of joy he realized that the joy was really just pointing to God Himself. Frequently I find myself desiring great things; love, freedom, joy, grace & so on. Yet the greatest of all things is to desire Jesus Himself, not just the fruits & gifts He offers me. Lewis was reminded that the joy he possessed from Christ was there draw him closer to Christ. Jesus was the point all along. When we are pointed to God each fruit does it's work.

David understands this thirst for God. He wrote of it in his Psalm 143.

"I spread out my hand to you;

my soul thirsts for you like

a parched land." (v.6)

As I catch the sun setting it draws my mind to the One who causes it to set. When my camera is aimed at someone I love it leaves me in awe that He would make such beauty. He is continually quenching my thirst with His truth & beauty. It is all around me. But the truth is that the soul will drink in almost anything. When my soul draws in anything but Jesus it will thirst again. What my soul thirsts for & ultimately what I pour into it will not easily leave & we need help not drinking the poisons of the world. Perhaps this is why Solomon warns, "Above all else, guard our heart for it is the wellspring of life."

"You and I," Lewis wrote, "have need of the strongest spell that can be found to wake us from the evil enchantment of worldliness which has been laid upon us." - See more at: http://glennpackiam.typepad.com/my_weblog/2014/02/on-going-to-church.html#sthash.8YjI2IFK.mOSM22Ah.dpufis is a reason Solomon warns, "Above all else, gaurd your heart for it is the wellspring of life."

"You and I," Lewis wrote, "have need of the strongest spell that can be found to wake us from the evil enchantment of worldliness which has been laid upon us." - See more at: http://glennpackiam.typepad.com/my_weblog/2014/02/on-going-to-church.html#sthash.8YjI2IFK.mOSM22Ah.dpuf

I pray when we thirst we would spread out our hands to Him. I hope we drink of the living water found in Jesus, the water that will leave us never thirsting again. & when we see a picture that stirs us we give Him glory, when we hear a song that moves us we give Him praise, when we fall in love it is because of Christ's love for us.

"You and I," Lewis wrote, "have need of the strongest spell that can be found to wake us from the evil enchantment of worldliness which has been laid upon us." - See more at: http://glennpackiam.typepad.com/my_weblog/2014/02/on-going-to-church.html#sthash.8YjI2IFK.mOSM22Ah.dpuf

"You and I," Lewis wrote, "have need of the strongest spell that can be found to wake us from the evil enchantment of worldliness which has been laid upon us." - See more at: http://glennpackiam.typepad.com/my_weblog/2014/02/on-going-to-church.html#sthash.8YjI2IFK.mOSM22Ah.dpuf

"You and I," Lewis wrote, "have need of the strongest spell that can be found to wake us from the evil enchantment of worldliness which has been laid upon us." - See more at: http://glennpackiam.typepad.com/my_weblog/2014/02/on-going-to-church.html#sthash.8YjI2IFK.mOSM22Ah.dpuf

"You and I," Lewis wrote, "have need of the strongest spell that can be found to wake us from the evil enchantment of worldliness which has been laid upon us." - See more at: http://glennpackiam.typepad.com/my_weblog/2014/02/on-going-to-church.html#sthash.8YjI2IFK.mOSM22Ah.dpuf

"You and I," Lewis wrote, "have need of the strongest spell that can be found to wake us from the evil enchantment of worldliness which has been laid upon us." - See more at: http://glennpackiam.typepad.com/my_weblog/2014/02/on-going-to-church.html#sthash.8YjI2IFK.mOSM22Ah.dpuf

"You and I," Lewis wrote, "have need of the strongest spell that can be found to wake us from the evil enchantment of worldliness which has been laid upon us." - See more at: http://glennpackiam.typepad.com/my_weblog/2014/02/on-going-to-church.html#sthash.8YjI2IFK.mOSM22Ah.dpuf

"You & I have need of the strongest spell that can be found to wake us from the evil enchantment of worldliness that has been laid upon us." -C.S. Lewis