Thursday, March 6: Stephanie Curry

Habakkuk 3:17-18. Though the cherry trees don’t blossom and the strawberries don’t ripen, Though the apples are worm-eaten and the wheat fields stunted, Though the sheep pens are sheepless and the cattle barns empty, I’m singing joyful praise to GOD. I’m turning cartwheels of joy to my Savior God. Counting on GOD’s Rule to prevail, I take heart and gain strength.

I lived in Anchorage for seven years during the 1980’s and was fascinated by the blend of races and cultures. Indigenous Natives, Asians, African Americans, European Americans, Latinos, Polynesians, and Texans.  The oil industry was booming bringing with it an influx of oil and gas professionals, mostly from Texas. I became friends with one such person, a petroleum engineer, in a Bible study I attended. Born and raised in Texas, he rattled off euphemisms and pithy southern phrases easily.

My favorite was “What’s down in the well comes up in the bucket.”

For me, Lent is a time to pay closer attention to “the well”. In her book A Clearing Season: Reflections for Lent, Sarah Parsons says Lent is an annual invitation to create a spacious place in our lives to draw closer to God. More specifically, it is a chance to identify the obstructions that keep us from God. She writes, “Lent gives us a chance to look at such obstructions and to move them gently away so that we can come closer to the Love that gives us life, the Love whose triumph we will celebrate on Easter morning.”

Making space in my schedule to draw closer to God is easier than making space in the noisy workshop of my soul. Those annoying obstructions for me include the rancorous voices of self-criticism and doubt, and a very disgruntled attitude toward God regarding my biggest challenge, multiple sclerosis. Those are my orchards of bloomless fruit trees, stunted wheat fields, and empty stockyards Habakkuk describes in the verses above. 

This Lenten season I cannot tackle all the obstructions in my life that prevent a closer walk with God. I can however, make space in my life to name and choose one, and open my mind to Light’s gentle guidance, allowing God to purify the well waters of my soul as only Love can do. My desire is to name then surrender that one obstruction with no expectations or mental gymnastics about the outcome. I know from experience that God is faithful, can be trusted, and Love triumphs. The well waters of my soul also know this, not by experience; I just know.

So, no matter the circumstances in and around me, the pure waters of praise and joy can and will rise up “in my bucket” as a song to Lord of living water.        

                                                          

 — Stephanie Curry