Clearing the Debris that Slowly Clogs Our Spiritual Lives 

What lies beneath?

I live near a small lake in one of our local parks that has become an annual news reel story on opening day of the trout fishing season. It is one of the places that local fishermen frequent each year, often standing nearly shoulder to shoulder to land the first catch of the season.  

In recent years the lake had to be closed for badly needed dredging. The project, costing millions of dollars, removed roughly 300,000 cubic yards – up to ten feet in places – of accumulated sediment, and took almost three years to complete. Lots of heavy equipment replaced the tranquil scene of expectant fisherman excited for the start of a new season. From a distance the lake looked still, very attractive and inviting. But upon closer observation one could notice that the water, now murky green, was covered in places with algae, and hiding things submerged beneath the surface that are out of place in a freshwater lake: trash, decaying vegetation, plastics, etc. Built in 1936, North Park Lake accumulated more than 75 years’ worth of silt, overgrown vegetation and sediment. 

In reading about the dredging process, I discovered that there are many benefits to dredging a body of water, including the following: 

• Dredging is the best way to keep the pond clean and to avoid excessive weed growth.  
• Its purpose is to remove excess sediment, silt and trash that have accumulated beneath the surface.  
• Removing the rotting leaves, silt and sediment allows for increased water depth and freshness.
• Removing sediment also raises the quality of the water eliminating a bad smell which often results from years of neglect.
• Dredging boosts oxygen levels and removes toxins.

Much more could be said about the benefits of dredging. As with much of the natural world there are relevant spiritual comparisons to be drawn if one has eyes to see.  

A good number of us are in our later years of life. It is quite possible that with the passing of time we may collect silt and sediment that finds a place to rest at the bottom of our hearts. As yet another birthday approaches, I am presented with a natural occasion to reflect on attitudes or certain dispositions that have been allowed to settle there that may need some attention, some cleaning out, some dredging. These can take many forms: 

• unforgiveness toward a brother or sister in the Lord, a family member, a coworker, a friend
• resentment, anger, or discontent over how our lives or the lives of loved ones have unfolded
• apathy or a loss of zeal for the Lord’s work
• taking the brothers and sisters for granted
• being less than diligent with our prayer life
• resistance to requests for service
• a lethargic approach to worship
• a loss of enthusiasm for spending time with the brothers and sisters
• loss of hope for the future
• falling into worldly ways of thinking, behaving
• compromising our Christian values

These sorts of hidden attitudes can lie dormant at the bottom of our hearts for quite some time, unrecognized, and making themselves so at home as to be hardly noticeable. 

The Lord leads me by still waters

Asking the Lord to show us what lies beneath the surface can feel intimidating. None of us wants to face the unattractive parts of our hearts. Often, we stay busy enough to avoid the possibility that our hearts need serious dredging. We struggle to slow down and make room for the silence in which we can hear the Lord speak. But when our hearts become still, we enter His presence. There, as we rest with Him, He gently reveals the sediment, silt, and even trash that has collected within. God invites us into this process, but He does not come with a bulldozer. He works with deep care and gentleness. If we resist His work, the living water within us can begin to stagnate, and like the pond, we become shallow. We lose depth and freshness. Unhealthy attitudes take root, sediment builds up, and our souls grow murky. Over time, almost without realizing it, we may become less inviting to those God sends to us.

The Lord refreshes my soul

It is an interesting fact that sheep will only drink from a still water source; they will not drink from a river or fast-moving stream. Notoriously unstable creatures, trying to navigate a moving stream can prove to be dangerous for them.  Likewise, if we are always running, like a fast-moving stream, the sheep will avoid us.  If our pond is not dredged on a regular basis the sheep of our Father’s flock that He intends us to care for will not find us inviting or attractive and we will have little to offer them. But while dredging can also be done in moving water, the process becomes more difficult and takes much longer. The constant movement of the water can quickly cause re-sedimentation, making the effort less permanent.  

Some of us may be uneasy with silence and solitude. We may feel unproductive simply sitting in the Lord’s presence or prefer to stay busy doing something else. We may even fear what silence and solitude might uncover within us. Perhaps we see ourselves as more Martha than Mary. Yet the more we practice being alone with the Lord, the more we come to know Him as a good Father—gentle, humble, and kind. He is the healer and lover of our souls, and He wants what is best for us. He wants not only to heal what lies hidden at the bottom of our pond, but also to fill us with His gifts, blessings, grace, and mercy. And he wants the streams of living water within us to be a fresh source of life for others. He wants us to take good care of his sheep. 

Dredging our hearts is a necessary work of God, especially if we have been following the Lord for a long time. Let us allow him to continue the work of restoring our souls so that we might be a source of refreshment to others.

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Top image credit: Photo of people fishing together by Anuj Yadav on Unsplash. Free to use under the Unsplash License.