Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities

Let us be vessels for God's love in 2018

What are your declarations for the new year? Many people call them resolutions, but I say that in each of our minds, many of us will declare that we are going to do things differently for the new year. So what areas of your life do you plan on making a declaration that things will be different?

I declare in my own heart that I will be more attuned to God’s will for my life. I know many times he wants to use me but because of personal hangups or time or just plain stubbornness, I refuse to follow the opportunities of service he gives me each day. A good illustration of this is found in a true story about my children.

When Annie, John Scott and Buffy were children, we lived on the edge of town in a newly developed area and there was a large vacant field in front of our house. Many times I would pick up the children from school and come home to find a fire engine and a smaller fire department truck with several firefighters positioned in the field.

The firefighters would be there in place with a hose hooked up to the hydrant on the corner, the valve open and water shooting out of the hose far into the field. The force of the thrust of water was so powerful and it was just amazing to watch. The children and I would stop, and get out of the car and stand and watch the water shooting some 100 feet over that vacant field down the street from our home.

If there was a little breeze, we could feel a damp mist on our faces from the spray of water. We would watch as the once-dry field became soaked with water that was spewing out of that fire hose.

About that same time I saw an advertisement on TV with one of those 1-800 numbers. It was an advertisement for a little watering hose that could be connected to the kitchen sink and then taken all over the house to water house plants. It had a little valve on the end so the water could be turned on at the sink, but the valve would stay closed until it came time to water the plant.

I ordered that little hose because I had so many houseplants. It cost $9.99 and I was so excited when the hose came in the mail. I attached my little hose, and walked all over the house. From the living room to the bedrooms to the bathroom, the little half-inch hose did the job for my houseplants.

Then one day it dawned on me. The same water source was behind the fire hydrant on the corner that spewed out the high-pressured water that shot out over the field and totally drenched it for hundreds of feet. The difference was in the size of the hoses.

What is the spiritual parallel? Some claim they are Christians and profess to love God and are connected to the Source. But because of unforgiveness, pride, bitterness and sin in their lives, they suffocate and dampen the spirit. Consequently, the love of God only dribbles out of them in little amounts, if it does at all.

On the other hand, there are those people who give all that they have. They acknowledge to God that they have frailties and faults but they submit to God. They give every bit of themselves — their attitudes, feelings, aspirations and hopes and dreams and, as a result, that obedience results in a gushing of the love of God out of their lives and people are touched and the world is a better place because they have lived out the Gospel in their everyday lives.

When Jesus told the people on the side of the mountain, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled,” (Matthew 5:6) it might be a commentary on the hoses. We can be filled vessels in 2018 to carry the love of God to all we meet.

Judy Brandon writes about faith for The Eastern New Mexico News. Contact her at: [email protected]