Is the bottom visible?

Usually every other day I find myself out cleaning the pool. It is not a bad job and it does not take too long. Yesterday was a little gross because when I pulled out the basket for the filter. I was greeted by a tiny drowned mouse. Poor thing but YUCK! It was necessary for me to immediately go and wash up. :)

Today was pretty hot and so after the cleaning and making sure there were no little critters --I decided to jump in and cool off. After all I had cleaned it-- so I might as well enjoy it. After I swam a few strokes to burn a few calories I sat on the stairs and decided to take advantage of the quiet and do a little praying. Yes, I prayed for my regular blogging girls. 'Nise who has has been having some problems with a fibromyalgia flare up, Deena who just needs help because she is a pastors wife, Dee who is trying to loose weight, Nicki who is getting settled into a new house, Connie who's Dad is in the hospital, Karen who has been a little under the weather, Jenny who is moving on in her relationship with God, Holly... God knows those prayers................ and Gledwood.............

As I sat there, things like pine needles, leaves and a dead mosquitoe (yahoo!!) passed by. Some I picked out but some I let pass by. Our pool is under some trees, so every time I picked something out more would come. I figured I let the filter get some. As I sat there I noticed the mosquitoe come around again. Its little legs up in the air--floating around on its back. Lovely picture huh? But the best type of mosquitoe is a dead mosquitoe.

Anyway, I began to think how much my life was like the pool. In this life we will attract some yucky things and some trash. I have a filter in my mind that gets rid of a lot of it. The Holy Spirit is like the pool's filtration system it keeps things moving around so that they don't sink in and destroy the health of the temple. Sometimes I don't say no to things I should not watch and things I should not listen to-they sink in and my heart becomes a stinking place. So the Spirit keeps things circulating so eventually the filter(God) cleans it out--if I don't get in the way.

I now have a choice--all I have to do is submit to the soul cleaner and I become crystal clean again. I become a person people enjoy being around. Someone who radiates the sweet presence of the Lord and not the stinking smell of a stagnant temple.

We have a pool guy who comes by once a week to check the chemicals of the pool and he adds what is needed and tells us what we need to do to keep the pool clean and healthy. (Just for your information he is in his late 50's and he looks nothing like Mel Gibson in his prime :)
You and I who claim to be God's children have a cleaner with us all the time--the Holy Spirit.
If we listen to Him- He will help us keep the temple clean. He will let us know when we need to add a little more living water to keep our lives level just right. He will let us know when we need to spend a little more time in the word to filter out the massive about of the trash the world is throwing at us.

But we do have the freedom to ignore Him. We can ignore the things of this world swimming around in us. We can tell God that He does not know what He is talking about when He tells us that our Faith is not strong enough for what is coming up in our life. We can tell Him that fasting is not for today, and that tithing was just for the Old Testament times. We can tell Him we know what is best for our lives and to please leave us alone. Eventually the filter will become so clogged that it will burn us out. In other words the Spirit will not be able to stay around the mess we are carrying around that we will no longer hear Him and our lives will come to ruin.

God has been speaking to me about trust or the need to have more. Not trust in man but in Him.We should never get to a point where we think we do not need Christ to increase our Faith or our trust. Now, I can ignore what God is telling me or I can ask God to do whatever He needs to do to increase my trust. That is kind of a scary thing to do. But maybe that feeling in itself is proof that God is right. I need a little stretching to make room for more faith and trust
.
Lack of trust means that I need a greater understanding and knowledge of God. When I know Him--I will be able to trust Him with anything because He is trustworthy.
He is who He says He is. He is the alpha and the omega. He started this world and He will say what happens in it in the end. He wants to take my knowledge of Himself and turn it into understanding and wisdom. If I do not let Him be the one who cleans me out then He will not places within me anymore of His wisdom or understanding.

Am I ready to stagnate? No way.
What about you?