My bucket

POD #18: My bucket

Right now, I feel like my bucket is empty.  Waiting for some type of inspiration, passion or creativity to magically begin to flow. There are a few that come regularly to drink from my bucket, but I am not feeling the fresh connections and creativity that comes as new people come to drink from that bucket.  Lately, I have felt like my bucket is dry – and I don’t want to drink from it, let alone share it with others.  There are brief spurts where I feel that energy and desire for connection but right now, today, I would say the bucket is dry.  I am hoping that a refreshing weekend will bring new life to my bucket because I am exhausted.

My bucket is usually filled with helping people. I love creating connection, throwing ideas out there for others to feed off of and draw others in to my world.  I know that my empty bucket is because my schedule is full.  My days and weeks are filled with the routine of life that I created, which usually bring me joy.  However, I typically have some wiggle room to play, find fresh creativity, and make new connections.

Writing has been my only release lately, and at times it has felt forced as well.  I question, is anybody listening? Does anyone care what I have to say?  Yet, for the release I let my fingers hit the keys and the thoughts flow.

I love digging in to God’s Word and sharing the tidbits, morsels, and meals that He provides to me during our time together.  He is still speaking, but I have found it of a more personal nature.  “This is for you my daughter.” I hear Him say.  I share the scripture, but the message is for me.  I know that this would be a year of personal growth for me, but sharing His Word has always been a part of my bucket.

Normally in my bucket, he has given me the camera lens that snaps the picture of the soul of the person before me.  They draw from the bucket one of the pieces that He gave to me the week prior.  It takes the most beautiful picture as I see Him bring that truth to life for them.  It is a timing that I don’t create; a divine moment that He created through what He deposited in me.  There is a power and refreshing that comes through those moments.  It is the most beautiful thing I have ever experienced.

I am not a preacher, it is not usually a group well that multiple people partake from at once.  It is not even a fountain where it flows for one person, then stops and then another.  Generally it is a single bucket, that beckons a soul to come and drink.  After they have had their fill, sometimes there is more left for others to partake.  Most times, it requires I go back to His fountain of life and allow Him to refill the bucket for the next passer-by.

It is the ability to take His Word and apply that Truth to life.  I am a strong believer, that it does not take a follower of Christ to see God’s Word come to pass.  His Word can be applied to any life.  In meeting them where they are, even a non-believer will have an encounter with the One who can truly transform their life.

I saw this at work very early in my career as I worked in the restrictions of a governmental job.  I couldn’t openly point people to God, but I could share His truths as an option and see Him transform their situation.  I saw families restored that had no hope or reconciliations.  I saw people freed from addictions.  I saw people take responsibility for actions, ownership of the consequences, and healing for victims.  That is the power of God, and the bucket of my life that I love to set out for others to partake from.

I never knew that this was a special bucket, until a friend commented on it.  I was not trained in Christian counseling, I was trained in social work.  I do not have a theological background, I have a background of being raised in a broken family that tried to turn to God in difficult times.  I don’t have a lot of certifications or  specialized training, I have what God has done in my life and through my life as a sounding board for others.  I love being able to share this bucket with the world.

 P.S.  I wrote this, and literally four hours later, God showed me that my bucket isn’t really empty.  My focus is just off.  He placed in my path the souls who have been drinking of my bucket.  It was truly a beautiful  picture that not only set someone else on a different trajectory but refreshed me.