SPRING FORTH NOW - DAILY MEDITATION

One day the wife of a man from the guild of prophets called out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead. You well know what a good man he was, devoted to God. And now the man to whom he was in debt is on his way to collect by taking my two children as slaves.” Elisha said, “I wonder how I can be of help. Tell me, what do you have in your house?”

“Nothing,” she said. “Well, I do have a little oil.” “Here’s what you do,” said Elisha. “Go up and down the street and borrow jugs and bowls from all your neighbors. And not just a few—all you can get. Then come home and lock the door behind you, you and your sons. Pour oil into each container; when each is full, set it aside.” She did what he said. She locked the door behind her and her sons; as they brought the containers to her, she filled them. When all the jugs and bowls were full, she said to one of her sons, “Another jug, please.” He said, “That’s it. There are no more jugs.” Then the oil stopped. She went and told the story to the man of God. He said, “Go sell the oil and make good on your debts. Live, both you and your sons, on what’s left.”

II Kings 4:1-7 (MSG)

The situations of our lives are ever evolving and in order to meet new challenges it requires a strategy that builds upon our experiences in which we construct new paradigms for flourishing. New levels, experiences just bring about new devils, challenges. We are not free from entanglements that seek to separate us from our desire to flourish just because we have won a battle or attention is given in the moment of our present reality. To combat the new demons that seek to separate us from our abundant living, we must we willing to confront them not just as before but in a strategic and methodical way that builds upon and advances our cause toward our expected end. Often we just want change and thus, we are more than willing to accept and/or rearrange the pawns on the chess board just to get the desired relief, change, however, treating symptoms only mask the deeply rooted problem and simple change will not fully address the required transformation needed to eliminate the problem. We must be willing to glean from our lived experiences not as a panacea for the new but as a building block to perfect our strategic and methodical push toward our flourishing, our long-term goal. Gather up the fragments, the leftovers of your experiences and create the new that goes beyond what was to what shall become, thinking both in short-term yet focused on long-term. The widower finds herself in a situation as a result of her husband’s death in which her livelihood was threaten. As a result she reverted to that which her husband had believed so intensely, God. She goes to Elisha, her husband’s teacher in the school of the prophets, and asked for help. Elisha responds, asking “what does she have” and she indicates “a little oil.” What is little can be much! The fragments of her life, trust in direction from God and that which she had left of value, and based on the instructions of Elisha she used it and as a result had more than enough to pay her debts and for her and her sons to live off. It may not appear what you have is much or even valuable but be assured it is more than enough, the challenge is how to strategically and methodically use it for your advancement. Reflect on your lived experiences and draw on them and that which is inside of you, your authentic value, and with the combination of the two, build on what you have, the leftovers and Catch The Wind of God’s Spirit, leading and guiding, to Receive, your more than enough that worketh within you and your lived experiences.