In the middle of hard water...

Our recent move to New Mexico has introduced me to something...

hard water.

I've never encountered it-and much like the dust storms here-it intrigues me.

Without a water softer  you are likely to find your dishes, fresh from the dishwasher...looking very cloudy, almost dirty...

your hair will do things you never imagined...

and your skin, after the shower, feels dry.

Our water softener was needing a repair and our landlord just got to it on Friday of last week...so the weeks we've been here have been spent, rinsing off clean dishes before we used them.

They were marked.

And it's funny, all a water softener is...is salt.
The salt mixes with some pellets and it softens the water and then you are good to go.

It made me think...
aren't  our lives marked?

we face so much...we deal with frustrations, disappointments, tragedies...
and we wear the marks of it all.
and we spend a lot of time...
in guilt and condemnation.
We spend a lot of time, as Christ Followers, washing and rinsing
off
trying to get rid of what coats us...


Here's the Truth:

Jesus is the Living Water...
when you give him your life and  follow after Him
you become  the salt
and in allowing Him to mix with you...
He softens you...
He molds your heart...
He changes your mind...
He draws you closer to him...

making you clean...

you are clean...

Did you know, that sometimes, if you notice your glasses and dishes carrying the cloudy residue that it's because the water softener isn't working right ... the salt isn't mixing with the water...and it shows.

and it's the same in our lives...
when we go on our own...
when we face the battles...
the disappointments...
and the choices
when we try to function apart from Jesus , we carry the mark of it...
we're living without the Water...
we're cloudy.

but when you mix with water, the Living Water...
things clear up...
once again
and we are
covered

 in nothing but grace.

Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. 

Eph. 5:2 MSG

[Today and every Thursday I am the blogger over at Middle Places. A great community of women, from all walks of life, living different experiences but all in the middle of something. Won't you join us there?]