By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer
Sometimes I just want to be a sponge.
Not the kind that scrubs grout in the shower or scum around the sink. I want to be a human sponge that gets to lie back and soak up the sunshine. Soak up the ambiance of a nice restaurant, the romance of a good movie, the beauty of a crimson sunset over the Rocky Mountains.
Sometimes I don’t want to participate, make an extra effort, contribute to whatever-it-is—I just want to soak it in.
I confess, that’s a pretty lazy attitude. And when I’m tired or stressed, it gets worse, as it did several years ago after a debilitating injury to a loved one. My desperate need for a break from it all sent me to a three-day writer’s conference in Texas.
While driving to the airport, I told the Lord I wanted to be a sponge when I got there. Just soak everything in rather than worry about pitching my book ideas to publishers. I didn’t want to interview or be interviewed. I was tired of performing.
Leaning back in my narrow window seat for the two-hour flight, I considered how self-centered the sponge idea was. Sheesh—me, me, me. Get all I can. Had I really fallen that far?
And then God corrected me, but not in the way I expected.
“What does a sponge do when it’s squeezed?” He asked my weary spirit.
Well, it gives, I suppose.
It drips out on whatever’s nearby.
It can give a drink to the thirsty, like soldiers offered Jesus on the cross.
It can cool a body, as I did with my feverish toddler years before.
Wipe away the dirt. Cleanse.
“Yes,” He whispered. “Be a sponge. But soak up Me. And when you’re squeezed, I will pour out on those around you.”
God’s compassion overwhelmed me. We are sponges; I just hadn’t seen it from His perspective. He created us to be porous. We absorb and we leak.
Everything we listen to, read, and watch seeps into us and forms patterns in our thoughts and dreams. Is it good? Is it of Him?
How right He was when He said, “Soak up Me.” How desperately I need Him.
Thank You, Lord, for Your incomparable mercy and grace. Wash over me and fill me with You. Amen.
O God, you are my God;
I earnestly search for you.
My soul thirsts for you;
my whole body longs for you
in this parched and weary land
where there is no water.
Psalm 63:1
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“Soak It Up” is Day Six in my devotional book, At My Right Hand – 90 story-devotions for women. Available in e-book or print.
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This is so good! I can definitely relate.
I have always wanted to do for others, always giving of myself.
But recently I think I need to be more of a sponge for a while!
God is so good! I continually thank Him for His Love, Mercy & Grace toward us.
He knows what we need!
So true, Karen. He knows. And sometimes we just need to soak Him up.