"Dixie Cup" Christianity

Photo courtesy of coffeeforless.com

I learned so many things while I was training for my 10K this past spring.  I also learned many things while I was actually running the race.  While I was training, I ran several long runs of five, five and a half, and six miles to prepare for the actual race (6.2 miles).  However, I never had the luxury of mid-run water breaks like I had on the actual race day.  The race had 3 water stations where volunteers would hand you a Dixie cup of water and you would just open wide, throw it down the hatch, and toss the cup to the ground while you continued to run (or throw it over your head to quickly cool off!).  These water breaks were great, but they did not truly hydrate me; instead, they moistened my mouth, took the edge off my thirst, and cooled me down for a bit.  But you see, the TRUE hydration happened BEFORE the race when I drank a glass of water at home (a racing veteran friend of mine told me to do this an hour or so before the race, to enable plenty of time to empty my bladder before race time!)

I feel like so many of us Christ followers rely on these "Dixie cup" sized doses of God's Truth to try to quench our soul thirst in the day-to-day happenings of our lives.  A Christian song on the radio.  A verse or two from Scripture.  A quick devotional page.  While these things are a useful way to keep our minds focused on God and find encouragement throughout the day, they cannot serve to solely feed our soul with God's truth.  We must dig deeper into God's Word on our own--as we read, study, meditate upon and wrestle with God's Word and labor in prayer individually.  Now, like a grassy lawn, I feel it is best to "water" our souls in the early morning hours, before the scorching mid-day sun dries us out and tests our faith.  The Scriptures speak to this, as well.

"In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice;
    in the morning I lay my requests before you
    and wait expectantly"  Psalm 5:3  (David)

But, as a mother of young children, I realize that early morning hours can be the most hectic ones in some households (or you are so sleep deprived from nighttime feedings or teething wakeups), so mid-day or evening hours might work best for some to have alert and mindful quiet time to read God's Word and pray.  The time of day you choose to do this is not critical.  However, what IS critical is that you hydrate your soul with a full dose of God's Word!  So while you run with perseverance the race marked out for you (Hebrews 12:1), quench your thirst with the Living Water (John 4) dear friend, and do not settle for "Dixie cup" Christianity!