the reservoir

Not far from where I live is a large reservoir, the Diascund Creek Reservoir, which is part of the water supply system for the city of Newport News. This is really a large reservoir...like a lake...that has been created by damming up a little creek and containing the water behind earthen walls and natural wooded shores. This morning the reservoir was the place I had my personal time with the Lord. When you are standing beside a large reservoir on a sunny morning two things dominate your view: a very big body of water and a very big expanse of sky. Sandwiched between are the trees and birds and occasional trucks that pass by. I thought about the sky and the water. From the sky we have the light and the air we need to see and breathe. From the reservoir we have the water that sustains our lives and cleans us. Taken together, we have a picture of all the Lord is and does for us. Really, His presence and His impact in our lives is just as overwhelming and clear as the simple view of the reservoir and sky this morning. We tend to clutter up our concept and our awareness of God with all the things in our peripheral vision between the sky and the water. But He dominates. He oversees and lightens and brightens and refreshes us continually. The Diascund Reservoir has a broad concrete spillway where a constant overflow of water feeds down into a canal where the water can be processed for our use. Our lives are a reservoir also, filled with the things of God, and overflowing into a creek of daily living that is intended to benefit others.

Ecclesiastes 2:⁶ I built reservoirs to collect the water to irrigate my many flourishing groves.