In your mind picture a fountain that you have seen in a park.  This is a picture I am holding in my mind as I walk through these days of uncertainty with riots, fires, rules and legislation changing during this Covi-19 panic. 

These things have been weighing on many of us heavily and each day something new gets thrown onto the pile of rubbish. And I find this garbage growing in my mind, and occupying way too much space there.

But like a stream that never stops flowing, even though garbage and rocks get thrown into it, if there is enough pressure, the water will find its way over, through, and around the obstacles.  If, there is enough pressure flowing from the source, then the stream is unstoppable.

This is how God wants us to function in these days and always. 

In John 7:38, Jesus said if we believe in Him that rivers of living water would flow out of us. We are to be the fountain life to everyone around us. The Holy Spirit wants to flow through us to others.

But sometimes these fountains can get blocked. So, how are we to unclog them when we find ourselves overwhelmed with events of the world?

Well, that cleaning solution comes bottled in a container called ‘Thanksgiving.’

In 1 Thessalonians 5:18, Paul tells us to give thanks in “every” circumstance. This includes these days when we see the world in upheaval over Covid and rioting.

But then in the very next verse Paul adds this line “Don’t quench the Spirit.”

And this makes me wonder if these two thoughts are connected. Is Paul saying that when we fail to be thankful, when we start worrying and complaining about how bad things are, that this somehow clogs up the fountain in our lives, as we quench the Holy Spirit?

So as I imagine this fountain in my mind with water flowing out of it, I am choosing to keep it flowing by being thankful for everything, despite my fears, emotions and unsettling circumstances.

I am finding things to be thankful for during these difficult times to overflow and push through what I am seeing and hearing daily.

Bible teacher Joyce Myers says:  

“We should have a flow of joy, a flow of peace of the fruit of the spirit, goodness and mercy. And when the right things are flowing and bubbling up out of us we not only enjoy our lives, but we are a blessing to others as well.  What is flowing out of you?”