When I was in Jamaica some time ago, my phone died.. Literally died. Something must have been draining the battery and I didn’t realize it. It had been in my purse and was not being used. I tried plugging it into the charger for short periods and then taking it out – wanting to see if anything was happening. Coincidentally, we had a visitor to the hotel that evening, which is rare, because when I’m away, I want to be fully away. They offered to take me to a phone store. The first guy they called, wasn’t around. They went to a second guy. He asked a few questions and I explained that I had never had an issue before. No amount of plugging into a charger was working. What surprised me though was this guy had to jump start my battery by plugging it into another phone.
My daughter likes to bring me her toys that are no longer working but she has remembered that she has and wants to play with it. Usually the solution is a fresh set of batteries, and she’s back to playing with the toy. Almost all of her toys are built in such a way that I have to get my screw driver out, screw off the battery compartment and then replace with fresh batteries, and screw back on the cover.
I wasn’t feeling well yesterday, so I didn’t go to church. I ended up staying home and still getting a blessing by watching a live stream of a service. As my daughter and I had been invited to a birthday lunch celebration, we got ourselves together, and went. When a lot of the crowd had left, we got to talking about the events of church that day, and our expectations of church. We came to the conclusion that while church is good for getting a good message, you need to enter being somewhat charged. This means that you can’t allow your battery to be so completely drained that you expect a quick visit to church to recharge your life and your batteries. You need to be plugged into your life source all week long. When you go to church, it will only give you a little boost, but the real connection happens with how you spend your time during the rest of the week.
I also think that sometimes we are so drained, that God has to give us a fresh set of batteries. He has to dig deep into my heart and to do a complete heart transformation, so that I can see things from a different perspective. If, like my daughter’s toys, I’ve been dormant from lack of use for so long, the way that I can reconnect is from a jump start and a renewal of my heart through Him.
Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are not only the Giver of life, but you are also the source of life where we can come to you for rest, charge and restoration. Lord, help us not to get so low in our battery life with you that the only thing that will re energize us is through a jump start. Help us to recognize the signs and symptoms that we need to stop, and come to spend time at your feet to recharge, long before we are so drained. Help our relationship to be a continuous relationship and not one built on only when we want something from you.