Sheri Wohlfert
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Talks & Topics
    • Discipleship & Evangelization
    • Women's Ministry
    • Catholic Schools
    • Catholic Hospitality Training
  • Events & Bookings
  • About
  • Contact

Joyful Words Blog

Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light for my path. 

– Psalm 119:105

Reservoirs

7/3/2014

2 Comments

 
“If you are wise, you will be reservoirs and not channels” St. Bernard

When my brother Jim was young he would play for hours with his farm toys and cars in the dirt.  Dad cut down a big tree and pulled out the stump one summer and it left a huge bare spot in the back yard.  Jim quickly moved his stuff to that dirt spot and made roads and buildings out of twigs.  That was his spot the whole summer.  After a night of heavy rain he went out to the spot to discover a giant puddle right in the middle of his city.  He got out his bulldozer and began to dig channels but he quickly discovered that all they did was drain the big puddle and leave him with nothing.  In his mind he was trying to create rivers and a lake but in no time at all the channels carried the water away and the giant puddle dried up. It was all very disappointing to a little boy!

When I read this quote from St. Bernard I remembered that little boy and his adventures one hot Kansas summer and I realized our walk with God can be just like those channels he dug in the dirt.  If all we are is a channel all we will be capable of is taking from the reservoir until we have drained it dry.  Jim tried all day long to take buckets of water and re-fill the reservoir but the channels just kept sucking it dry. St. Bernard continues his thoughts by saying, “The channels let the water flow away and do not retain a drop.  But the reservoir is first filled, and then, without emptying itself, pours out its overflow which is ever renewed over the fields which it waters.”  In his book God Help Me, Jim Beckman adds, “We are not meant to be channels just moving things from here to there, even good things that we have heard or learned.  We are designed to be reservoirs filled to capacity with the very life of God, even overflowing.  It is the overflow that becomes our ministry.”  I hope Mr. Beckman won’t mind me sharing that piece of his great thinking!

So, the big question…how do we become a reservoir and not a channel? It’s simple, we allow God to fill us…again and again and again until the overflow floods into everything around us.  The only way I know to do that is through prayer.  If the best we do is offer prayer while driving or waiting at a stoplight or while we sit in the drive-thru line the best we will be is a channel because that kind of prayer life will never fill us.  If the best we offer God in conversation is a laundry list of needs and wants we will find ourselves empty and dry.  If the best we offer God are our well-intended attempts to fit deliberate, consistent prayer time into our lives the best we will be is a channel. A reservoir takes work and takes time.  If we think we just don’t have time for 15 to 30 minutes of reservoir building prayer then we probably need it more than we realize. Another great line from Jim Beckman’s book was in response to the excuses we make about not having time for consistent, intimate daily prayer is “no one ever died of hunger because of not having time to eat.”  That screamed to me, you have time for what you make time for!

Sometimes my head spins when I see some of the crazy stuff going on in our culture! I am not a wise or powerful woman who can change much, but I know for sure there is one thing I can change and that’s me;  I’m going to work on changing from a channel to a reservoir.  We all have a mission to share the love of Christ and the world would be such a different place if we were sharing from the overflow of our reservoir.  Just as the earth depends on life giving water, God’s children depend on HIS life giving water so let’s get to filling up our reservoirs!

A Seed To Plant:  Take an honest look at your daily prayer life and ask God to show you what changes you can make to become a reservoir.

Blessings on your day!

2 Comments
Brenda
7/3/2014 11:59:54 am

This blog is Great. So many people complain that they are too busy. You wondered if they are too busy for God. When Deacon Ralph was here he said," Nothing makes the devil happier than we are so busy we don't have time for God." Good Job Sheri with the blog!!

Reply
Theresa
7/6/2014 03:54:33 am

I have been reading your blog for years but am sorry to say I have not commented before. This is one of your best insights. I will work on reservoir building. Thanks for the years of spiritual guidance.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Subscribe to Joyful Words Blog
    Subscribe

    Sheri's writing can also be found at Faith Catholic Publications and on CatholicMom.com
    Picture
    Picture

    Archives

    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012

Email     [email protected]

Phone   989.640.6673

Subscribe to Joyful Words Blog

* indicates required
/* real people should not fill this in and expect good things - do not remove this or risk form bot signups */

Content is the intellectual property of Sheri Wohlfert
Created by Olivia K Design
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Talks & Topics
    • Discipleship & Evangelization
    • Women's Ministry
    • Catholic Schools
    • Catholic Hospitality Training
  • Events & Bookings
  • About
  • Contact