Have you ever stopped to consider a fountain? If you think about it, fountains only work because they're continually draining themselves. Somewhere in that fountain, there is a small drain that leads to a pump that cycles water back up to the top. Only in the act of being continuously drained can a fountain fulfill its true purpose.
Or picture a paintbrush. A new paintbrush is a thing of beauty -- unmarred, pure, untainted by any color. Only by immersing itself in colored paints, risking staining and possible deformity, can it fulfill its true purpose. Far safer to stay in the wrapper, far from paints with conflicting colors. But not what a paintbrush is designed for.
We are the same. We are made, we are called, we are created to serve, to pour ourselves out for the hungry and satisfy the desires of the afflicted, for in so doing the Lord guides us and satisfies us. In serving others, as messy as it can be, we discover grace anew. In feeding others, we are fed. In pouring ourselves out, we are watered, and we are renewed by grace, restored by God. In serving, we discover anew the love of Christ who serves us. In loving, we discover the unconditional love of God.
So may we serve and love, unburdened by the risks and unrestrained by the mess of one another's lives, and in so doing, may we fall in love with God all over again.
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